I believe whole heartedly that the greatest gift any of us can give to the world is to take responsibility (response – ability: the ability to control how we respond to ourselves, others and the world) for ourselves and our actions and go to work to uncover the essence of our truths. Peace comes from within. Compassion comes from within. Humility comes from within. Unconditional love comes within. When we go to work on ourselves, we find that we are all trying to do our best during our time here on earth. We are all just at different stages in this new awakening evolution as humans.
“If each of us would only sweep our own doorstep, the whole World would be clean.” ~Mother Theresa
My beliefs don’t mean anything until I take out my broom every day and go to work. I choose to show up each and every day as a better human being than I was yesterday and I will continue to do that for the rest of my life. I look for innovations and am always open to new ways to clean my doorstep and new tools to help me make it shine. Just like my physical doorstep takes daily tidying to keep clean, so does my soul level one. This is not something I take lightly and take on once a month, once a year, or see as something I did 2 years ago when I read that great book. It’s a daily commitment.
The mess that we need to clean on our doorsteps is just bits of our dark sides popping up. We all have a dark side. That’s part of the duality of life. No one person, group, religion or otherwise is fully good or fully bad. Good and bad are just flat words that could never fully capture the essence of a human being, or anything else for that matter. But just because we have a dark side doesn’t mean that our dark sides have to take over us. Cleaning our doorsteps is learning to control those tendencies. It’s learning to heal our pasts so that we can really be present with ourselves and the world.
As I started cleaning my doorstep, here’s what I found: keeping my own doorstep clean in and of itself is not enough. I still felt the pull of my Busoula towards a greater cause. When I stand at my doorstep and look at the world, I see more finger pointing than actual cleaning. I see people shaming their neighbor for not doing it right or the way they think it should be done. I see people fighting across the street at each other about what they think the other person should be doing. The reality of shaming is that ultimately, it leaves your own doorstep messier than you found it.
The world needs me to not only keep my doorstep clean, but to also offer compassion to my neighbors while doing so. Instead of pointing fingers, I need to pick up my pail and help those who are raising their hands for help. To help those who are too weak to do it themselves. To show them love if their doorstep is continually dirty. To hold space for each neighbor. Because the truth is, the neighbors with the dirtiest doorsteps need our love and compassion more than they need our shame.
It took me 41 years to figure out but I now understand that part of my journey includes not only the role of student but also that of teacher. I’m a lover of learning and consider myself a forever student. There are so many people who have gone before me or are walking along side me that have things to teach me, including you. Why wouldn’t I want to learn from you?
The best use of knowledge is not just to apply it to our own lives but also to recycle it back out into the word. If you have a great tip on how to clean a mud stain off my front doorstep, I’d love to hear about it. And if you need a new recipe for cleaning your door mat, I’m your girl. It’s an individual journey but also a partnership at the same time. We are all in this together.
This is what it means to clean your front doorstep: If we were all taught how to go within to solve our problems, the world would be a much different and more loving place. Hatred, racism, anger, wars, fighting, shootings, terrorism and any other terrible things that we do to other human beings would no longer exist. It’s a lofty goal but anyone on earth who has ever had a dream had to start somewhere. I believe sharing my journey, with honesty and vulnerability, is my next right step towards that purpose.
The root cause of my soul in guiding me to write is to share what I’ve learned, to share how I apply it to my life but it’s also to hear from you. We are a team. I show up every day in hopes that others will be inspired to take a look at their own doorsteps and go to work but also to learn from you too.
What do you do to keep your doorstep clean?
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