Can I do anything to change this situation for the better?

I’ve just been having an interesting conversation with a friend about whether people can change.  If someone has already been, say, dishonest several times does that mean that’s it, that’s the way they are? There’s the ‘People don’t change.’ camp. Sometimes it’s hard from the outside of a situation to watch people doing the same thing again that lets them down and knowing it’s outside one’s own remit to change that. If I ask myself ‘’Can I do anything to help change this situation for the better?” and come up with the answer: “No”, perhaps because it’s not my business or it’s outside my control, what can I do?

Having asked that question is a start. Have you come across the idea of a ’sphere of influence’ and a ’sphere of concern’ ? They may overlap, or not. Perhaps you’d like to help a friend but they can’t or won’t accept support. That’s in your sphere of concern but not in your sphere of influence. At least identifying that can bring clarity.

So even if the answer is not comfortable and it doesn’t feel like the end of the story, ‘Can I do anything to change this situation for the better?’ might be a very useful question.