Looking inward and outward

In my music classes throughout elementary school, we sang a cute little song about making friends and being happy. The majority of the song consisted of repetition of the phrase, "I'm downright, upright, inright, outright, happy all the time!"

I love that! It reminds me of my strongly held belief that, in the face of any circumstances, we can choose to be "happy all the time." But there's another aspect of the song's wording that has kept bringing it to mind recently - the "inright, outright" part.

That's because for my leadership class I've been learning and reading a lot about two seemingly opposing "in" and "out" concepts. First, when it comes to leading and motivating others, you absolutely have to start by looking inside yourself. You focus on personal improvement before you try to effect change in others. But then, second, you don't focus on yourself. Rather, you must look outside yourself to the greatest degree possible, serving others and focusing on their needs.

Seems a little contradictory.

But President Uchtdorf helped clear up some of the confusion with his statement that we gain humility not by thinking less of ourselves but by thinking less about ourselves. The key here in my mind is humility. When I'm humble, I am willing to look inward and make the changes necessary to be the kind of person (and leader) that I need to be. As I am make those changes, and in the same spirit of humility, I want to help others more than I want to help myself.

Through this process of trying to look simultaneously inward and outward, I've been able to develop stronger relationships with many of my roommates, classmates, and others. It's a great pattern for living that brings a lot of joy. So it's fitting that the song ends: "It's good just to know I've made a lot of friends. I'm downright, upright, inright, outright, happy all the time!"