When World Views Collide
At any given time you are existing in two worlds. There is the outside world, where your life as well as the billions of other lives on this earth are equally important and inconsequential That world is cold and mean so we're going to ignore it for now. Then there is the real world. To help with your perspective a bit, we are going to refer to it as "Your World", because that's what it is. The difference between "Your World" and the outside world is the difference between seeing happy glowing faces all around you, and a bleak world drained of color. The more people you feel have importance to you, the nicer "Your World" will be.
Now, you are the center of "Your World". Don't let anyone tell you that that is egotistical or wrong, because they're stupid and wrong. There is absolutely nothing wrong with thinking of yourself in the best possible light. In your world you bestow importance on other human beings. While it sounds bad, it's true. Wait, don't look at the person next to you and think, 'they determine my own importance', because that is wrong. Get rid of those thoughts right now. That may exist in "Their World", but you should only focus on Your World for now, and in Your World you give importance to others.
Now let's stop to think about what that means. Giving another person importance has nothing to do with their own self esteem or self image. It has entirely to do with how you view them. For our purposes right now, I want you to ignore any and all negative thoughts you have about this world view. The minute you look at someone and say, "this person is important to me," they become not only important to you, but to any others who decide to visit your world view.
While you consistently exist in Your World and in the Outside World, you are able to visit other peoples' Worlds if you so choose. All it takes is a simple perspective change. We all know about looking at the other person's view correct? Well, the reason that sometimes makes us so angry or sad and unwilling is because to get to another person's World, you have to visit the Outside World. And we remember that in the outside world you are small and everything is cold and everyone is of equal importance and stature and no one is more important than anyone else. That is lonely and dull, and whenever we traverse the Outside World to see into someone else's World, we become sad.
The closer you are to someone, the less distance you have to go in the Outside World to reach them. Viewing the World of your best friend leaves you in the Outside World for almost no time at all. Viewing the World of a starving child you see on TV means you have to be in the Outside World for much longer, and you will feel that much worse. You could also take this as a reason to make the Outside World a warmer place.
When you give importance to someone, it is in direct correlation to how much you value that person. A friend or a family member holds much more importance than a stranger you see in the street. Also, the more you judge someone, whether positive or negative, the easier it is to access Their World (though that doesn't necessarily mean the distance in the Outside World is shorter). Any importance you bestow upon a person is reflected onto yourself, not only in Your World, but possibly in Theirs.
You and your best friend will hold each other in great importance in each of your Worlds, and because you hold someone in such high value, that value will become reflected onto yourself in Your World. The more positive connections you make, the better you will feel about yourself. Whereas, when you try to take away the importance of someone, you may feel for a time that you gain importance in yourself, but really you lose your value in the eyes of all those who are present. Trying to gain importance by sowing misery will only leave you unhappy in Your World.
Some who are unhappy may have difficulty finding Their World. If you can see Their World, invite them into Yours and point the way. When you're close to someone who is lost in the Outside World, be sure to tell them how important they are to you. Invite them into Your World so that they may be able to discover their place at the center of their own World.
You can place others ahead of yourself, but remember, the only person who should be at the center of Your World is you.
Yay a little piece on why you are awesome and special and no one is awesomer and specialer than you and how you should be happy because you're amazing and I want everyone to sparkle!!! (I'm a writer, I promise)
