Be The Change.

Ever heard the saying: “Be the change you wish to see in the world” by Mahatma Gandhi?

I’m pretty sure you have.

This is such a powerful phrase; short, but it has so much impact, in my personal opinion.

Just a simple example: I pass about 10 High School learners daily, not all at once.  1 of them always greets me with a smile. The other 9 just walk past me, without making eye contact. 

I always ask myself what happened to the days where school kids would greet grown-ups, whether they knew them or not? But then I also ask myself, why do I not greet them first? Why not BE THE CHANGE I WISH TO SEE IN THE WORLD?

We as humans often complain about so many things in this world, about people. We do it more than we should, to be honest. 

I often tell my kids: STOP COMPLAINING! Without realizing that I am complaining about them complaining.. And so it continues..

It’s a vicious cycle, I kid you not. 

But.. Sometimes it’s hard to think of actually being the change. Because to be the change, means we need to do some soul searching, we need to dig deep into our own being and sometimes it takes time. Sometimes it’s easy, sometimes it’s not. Sometimes the truth hurts and sometimes we live in denial, because of what we find deep inside and we push it aside for “later”.  It obviously depends on the situation we find ourselves in and where or how far we “dig”. 

We need to do work within ourselves first, before we can even begin to think of changing anything out there in the world. I mean, you can’t expect the world to be kind, if you never show kindness. It’s like sitting and waiting for an apple tree to grow, when you haven’t even planted an apple seed. Who are you kidding?

“Be the change you wish to see in the world” is actually a shortened quote. Let me share with you what Mahatma Gandhi actually said:

“We but mirror the world. All the tendencies present in the outer world are to be found in the world of our body. If we change ourselves, the tendencies in the world would also change. As a man changes his own nature, so does the attitude of the world change towards him. This is the divine mystery supreme. A wonderful thing it is and the source of our happiness. We need not wait to see what others do.”

I would like to ask you to sit and think of at least one thing that you would like to change, whether in your personal or professional capacity. Can you be the change you wish to see in the world? Are you up for some soul searching, for some inner work to be done? 

I know for sure I will be doing some inner work. I will be trying my best to be the change I wish to see in this world.