One morning as I drove to work, I kept on adjusting my rear view mirror to tilt it up. It kept on tilting down as I drove through the rough roads, probably the screw was loose or it’s broken — or so I thought.

Then at one point I had to tilt it down. So that means it tilted up by itself?

Finally it hit me. My rear view mirror wasn’t broken. I was actually the one moving throughout the drive. I would lean forward when I adjusted the mirror and I would lean back when I drove. Duh.

Pretty good illustration for self-awareness. In the past, I frequently thought that my situation was wrong, blamed people for not following through on me, for taking opportunities from me, or for not guiding me the way I thought I should have been guided.

Trying to adjust our situation but not seeing we need adjustment ourselves will not make things better. You’ll just end up trying to manipulate or blame everything and everyone around you (which are not as easy to adjust as a rear view mirror), still leaving you with the same problem, or even make things worse.

Nobody is 100% self-aware. We need to have people in our lives who can help us with our blind spots. Surely if I had a passenger with me that morning, she would have pointed it out before I looked like a fool.

Do you see a man who is wise in his own eyes?
There is more hope for a fool than for him.
Proverbs 26:12