We need to focus less on the World outside us and more on the World within us

That person seems stupid. I would sure like to have that car. Why did that person treat me that way? I have too little money. I have too much money and I don't know what to do with it. Why won't she see my point of view and agree with my political opinion? The weather is awful. My husband is late again.  The list of things I could focus on in the outside world is endless.  Most of the time, focusing on them causes me misery and one of the things I do when miserable is drink, drug or otherwise act out. 


To-do:

Today I am going to focus less on the outside world and more on my inside world. I will ask myself if I am making the following mistakes: Am I not accepting reality? Am I conditioning my happiness on what happens in the outside World? Am I upset because I am not getting what I want even though my basic needs are being fulfilled at this moment?  Am I being selfish, greedy, indignant, resentful, humorless, dishonest? If any of these character defects are operating within my world, I am simply going to try to do the opposite. For example, I will focus on acceptance and gratitude. I will have perspective. Where I feel resentment, I am going to do something loving. I have faith that changing my inside world can give me the peace that I used to think only came from controlling the outside world. Today I know that trying to control the outside World (including its uncontrollable, people, places, and things) usually frustrates me and gets me drunk, stoned or in trouble. Instead of pointing my finger at it, I am going to focus on the four fingers ponting back at me. I can change me with HELP so that I may be reasonably happy regardless of outside events.