“In deep and lasting ways, when we heal ourselves, we heal the world. For as the body is only as healthy as its individual cells, the world is only as healthy as its individual souls…Live directly, wait, and care for your soul as if it was the whole world.” – Mark Nepo, The Book of Awakening

I think that too many times we all try to fix and help others before actually doing the same for ourselves. For many of us it is natural, we can’t help it and we gravitate to people that need to be “fixed.”  I used to think that it was fulfilling to do this until I realized that the satisfaction of helping others fades and so do they once they’ve been helped. And, after all the work that goes into helping them, I’m left the same way I was when I started. The gratification slowly disappears, the need to feel needed comes back and I’m once again at step one: neglecting my own needs.

I think many of us are scared to fix our own problems and think that by fixing the problems of others ours will just go away. But it isn’t true. I think that the best way to help others is to fix yourself and become the most honest and healthy individual that you can become. What good are we to others if we aren’t emotionally and mentally stable? Because, as Mark Nepo reminds us, “The world is only as healthy as its individual souls.” Take care of YOUR soul and others will heal with you. Take care of yourself like you take care of others because no one in this world is more important that YOU!

There was a great article on Huffingtonpost.com today by Jeanne Ball:  “Occupy Consciousness: Healing the Collective Mind.” Read it from the picture below. (Sneak Peak: “The effectiveness of everything we do — for ourselves or others — depends on the clarity of our consciousness, how much of our individual creative potential is available.”)