Two Circles

Here's the thing. Life can be said to consist of two circles:

If you focus on the circle INSIDE (the Circle of Influence) i.e. on what you can work on or have control over (e.g. your habits, the way you treat people, your response to problems, the improvement of your skill sets, ec.) then eventually that particular circle expands, as per below:

What happens is that you develop greater influence over the items you previously had no influence over. You're able to do more because by focusing your energies on what you can address, you've in a way become more.

But here's the problem. Most of us choose to focus on the larger circle i.e. the stuff we care about but can next-to-never control or influence (e.g. complaints, what others are doing, how bad the economy/politics is, etc.). We generally dis-empower ourselves by attending to matters we don't have control over.

By doing so, our circle of influence shrinks. Until we end up becoming the victims our language and (non)-actions foreshadowed.