Mind Your Own Business

“A lifetime can well be spent correcting and improving one’s own faults without bothering about others.”_Edward Weston

In case you feel slightly offended by the title of my article telling you to ‘mind your own business.’  Please understand that the message is not just directed to you. It is directed to me as well. In fact, it is directed to all of us, and this will be made clearer in the course of my writing.

By ‘mind your own business,’ I mean all of us should channel our attention inward so that we can become our own best version for the good of the world around us. Remember, there is no higher obligation that we owe to others than to be our own highest self.

Therefore, ‘mind your own business’ is about correcting our mistakes and improving our own lives so we can serve as good role models for the generations coming behind. 

It is about seeking serenity through abundant measure of unconditional love and forgiveness for oneself along with anyone who may have wronged one in any way, at any time. 

Clearly, minding our own business, in this sense, doesn’t mean selfishness. It means quite the opposite. It means reformative generosity. That is, being caring enough to seek personal transformation for our own good and for the good of the people around us.

It means being conscious enough to avoid backbiting another fellow human being, no matter what. 

It means keeping our attention focused entirely on what is truly our own concern, and being clear that the vexing affairs of others are their own business and none of ours.

Now let’s underscore three big ideas —from someone who knows what he is talking about—that we can always use to help us mind our own business at all times.

3 Tips to Help Us Mind Our Own Business

The author of the book, ‘Inner Wisdom’ Wayne Dyer counsels us to overcome the urge to meddle in other people’s affairs through the following insightful words.

Dyer writes:

ONE: “Cultivate your own garden and let go of your tendency to examine and judge how others cultivate theirs.” 

TWO: “Catch yourself in moments of gossip about how others ought to be living and rid yourself of thoughts about how they should be doing it this way, or how they have no right to live and think as they do.”

THREE: “Stay busy and involved in your own projects and pursuits.”

You see, the way we live and the peace of mind we exude are ultimately intertwined. We can’t live our lives as busybodies all day long and still hope for maximum state of serenity—at the same time.

The Greek philosopher, Plato even went further to explain the concept as a good definition of justice. He said: “Justice is minding one's own business and not meddling with other men's concerns.” 

To put this in perspective, realize that by refusing to backbite—or even slander— another person, we are preserving that person’s dignity and our own peace of mind— through a singular act of self-control. 

In this case, we are not only demonstrating justice to others but also demonstrating justice to our own soul by a mere refusal to interfere.

Therefore, we should not give our limited attention to what others choose to do or otherwise; rather, we should give it to what we ourselves choose to do or choose not to. 

Remember that sometimes, we are our own worst enemies. And that’s why Robert Heinlein, an American aeronautical engineer and iconic science-fiction author said that ninety percent of all human wisdom lies in one’s ability to mind one’s own business.

Consequently, if we all beam our focus toward making our personal choices better, day after day, we would have a better chance of making the world a beautiful place for all. 

And ultimately, to be change that we wish to see in the world, we must learn to always mind our own business for good.