There’s no way you’re going to straighten out other people’s minds unless you can straighten out your own mind first. And even then, they won’t let you straighten them out.

"There’s no way you’re going to straighten out other people’s minds unless you can straighten out your own mind first. And even then, they won’t let you straighten them out: You can give them pointers, and they may or may not be willing to listen to you, but at the very least you’ve taken care of the part where you are responsible and you can see results.

When you come right down to it, that’s all you can ask of a human being. You’ve got this one person who you’re responsible for. All too often we’re irresponsible about ourselves but we want to straighten everybody else out. It doesn’t work.

Only when you’ve straightened out your own mind will other people be curious about how you did it. Only to that extent can you actually have an influence out there on other people’s behavior. But at the very least, make sure you’re got your own behavior.

As Ajaan Suwat once said, it doesn’t matter whether we get other people here at the monastery, what matters is that you get yourself. If you get yourself and other people are attracted to come and practice the same way, fine. If not, well, at least you’ve got yourself. And that’s much more than most people can say."

~ Thanissaro Bhikkhu "Straightening Out the World"

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