“If you want to awaken all of humanity then awaken all of yourself. If you want to eliminate all the suffering in the world then eliminate all that is dark and negative in yourself. Truly the greatest gift you have to give is that of your own self transformation.” Lao Tzu.
In times of uncertainty and chaos in the outer world it is easy to get swept up into feeling that way ourselves. The uncertainty of what the future holds can shed fear over our individual future and the control we feel we have or haven’t got over it. It is easy to feel anger and unease at all of the violence and devastating acts that we see on the news. When so much appears to go on that seems beyond our immediate control it is easy to feel helpless in how to affect change. It is easy to get drawn into pointing the finger at all that is wrong in the world and those in it. It is easy to feel frustrated. It is easy to think that we ourselves can’t do anything of any real benefit. It is easy to give away our own power.
We can all do our bit though. We can use the heart felt sadness of all the violent acts that go on to shine a light on whether we ourselves bring peace into the world. Every time we have thoughts that come from a place of not being enough and not being love then we add to the collective negativity. Every time we betray loving kindness for acts of impatience and judgement we add to the collective negativity. We can all do out bit by trying to be more kind and loving in our relationship with both ourselves and others. We can do all that we can to be at peace in this very moment.
We can all use the uncertainty about the future to shine a light on the now – what are we doing in this moment? Are we offering peace, kindness and generosity? Or are we being fearful, greedy and impatient? Are we living to our values and walking the talk of what we believe in? Or are we supporting something that we no longer wish to create in this world?
All that goes on in the world can be a brilliant trigger to shine a light on all that is dark and negative within ourselves, and if we can each do our bit to open up into the beautiful, loving and peaceful beings that we are capable of being, then we can change the world. It is the certainty that we have got, that we each, individually, can eliminate all that is dark within ourselves, irrelevant of any outer circumstance. It is a certainty that we have got, that we each, individually, can own what we personally bring to each moment. It is a certainty that if we do that our world will change.
So when it all seems a bit crazy and out of control be inspired by Lao Tzu’s quote at the start of this blog and never under estimate your power and effectiveness of ‘just doing what you can, with what you have, and where you are,’ as said by Theodore Roosevelt. Far from being insignificant if we all do our bit then it may well just change the world.
Recent Comments