Mother Teresa Was Also Selfish and Here’s Why
The way I see life — selfishness is one of the best skills we have. Selfishness together with our ability to remember and predict future is probably at the core of our uniqueness among other species.
Selfishness is a strength, not a bad trait as it is usually perceived as. But in order for this last sentence to be right — let me iterate on it all!
Our hands bend our way
Even though we all sometimes lack being more humble and helping others, just because You only help others — doesn’t mean that You are not selfish. If You help others, this is just Your personal decision for Your personal gain.
What gain You will get by helping others and staying humble? Smiles, joy and personal fulfillment. But that’s just one way of personal fulfillment.
That’s why — some of us value things more than relationships. That’s why some of us are more greedy than others — some of us are mistaken by thinking that the more You have the more fulfilled You will feel. When we all know the opposite to be true.
We all seek good stuff for us, even if that good stuff for us is seeing others having good stuff. If You look closely, people who have tons of money usually start being helpful to society. Though, chances are that rich folks still are doing less good than the middle class. If we count percentiles, that is.
We don’t give an actual damn about most of the others
Despite some people closest to us — it is quite usual for us to turn our backs to others as soon as we have plenty of problems of our own. Unless everybody else has the same problems. Then we group up to solve those problems together. That explains how we act under harsh war conditions and why the richest don’t usually help with the right problems the poor actually have.
One more misconception is that You can help others only if You have Your shit together. On the contrary, we tend to distract ourselves from our personal issues by helping the less fortunate. When we are lost, we start to lead others. And it’s a good thing when we are thinking about generic group help. But sometimes we start helping others around us with the help they don’t actually need. Because…
People can change, but You can’t change them
Selfishness moves us forward
You should live and let live. But to survive, You just have to be selfish. That’s the way our bodies and minds work.
That doesn’t mean that You need to walking on heads to get what You want. That’s why sharing Your ideas is better than keeping them to Yourself. I always stop communicating with people who think their ideas are precious. Ideas are 1000 for a dime. Execution is everything that has worth in all of this.
You can get wherever You want and there are always ways to just “crush it” without actually hurting anybody. If Your plan involves hurting or taking from others — be prepared to meet karma. Because karma is a bitch.
Karma is internal
Despite popular belief — karma is something that is internal, not external. If You do bad stuff, that You know is bad — even a tiny spark of understanding about Your wrongdoing will unleash a mental chain reaction inside Your head. We all know what I am talking about — that split second thought inside Your head that tells You to not to do it. If You don’t obey these mental seeds — they start growing, thus haunting You. Haunting You bad.
And we all know what kind of mind nasty any circular thought can be. Worse than that, the more of these wrongdoing pebbles You store inside You — the more self-destructive You become. That’s why outsider judgment towards Your actions can mean nothing to You and have no initial influence on Your future performance. But Your inner thoughts about Yourself will destroy You from within.
The worst punishments don’t come from others. The worst punishments we give ourselves. That’s why in 99% of cases if You just leave people alone they will ruin themselves on their own. Never interrupt Your enemy while he is making a mistake. Because he will get back on his feet later on — an will be stronger than he was. Thus bringing You some better competition in the future. Forcing You to become stronger than You were. Forcing You to grow.
It’s all just in Your blood, it’s all in Your head.
Don’t try to be less selfish. Try to be the right kind of selfish.
