Be the change you wish to see in the world
Mahatma Gandhi is often credited with saying this, but he didn’t actually say it 😳
He gave a long paragraph of a quote that included the sentence “If we could change ourselves, the tendencies in the world would also change something like”
Now, regardless of who’s quote it was, it’s a powerful quote and it doesn’t take much imagination to see how you as a parent, as a teacher, as a leader are already practising this mantra.
Am I provoking thought? well, this first started out as a newsletter that I write twice a week on my website (sign up for free here), and what’s the point of a newsletter if there isn’t news? What’s ‘news’ then?
As a noun, it means ‘newly received or noteworthy information, especially about recent events. Even though the quote is not new, my interpretation is new to your reading eye.
As an informal interpretation, it’s ‘information not previously known to (someone)’
Let me elaborate and gain traction so that you can follow me, or lose me and map your own route to find out.
You’re a parent and your one sole objective is to nurture the soul you brought into the world to be of service which by definition, is to be a good human, which is to do good for the common good. You wish your child to be kind, respectful, strong, resilient, compassionate, thoughtful, empathetic and above all else KIND. Would you agree?
Then, you are living for something more important than you. You ARE living for the change you want to see in the world.
Here’s a little self-discovery test for you, and a test that has previously been given to my clients which have had some enlightening results. I did this test on myself many years ago, before I could even call it a thing.
Get a notepad and pen or whatever you use to take down notes.
If everyone in the world, all 7.9 billion of us were just like you, one of each gender (your choice of how many), what businesses would there be in the world? Let your imagination run wild.
I did this many years ago, and I knew I needed to change. In a short synopsis and not an exclusive list, you could say I was steeped in tradition, fixed in mindset and we would be limited to a Nando’s, a couple of Greek restaurants, with the occasional Italian, the cinema, a Starbucks (at the time, it was many years ago, I’m a Costa fiend now), Gyms, supplement companies, a record shop, Book store, Supermarkets and Mothercare 😄 and basically a narrow life.
A capital B on the Boring, but quite the contrary, it was a reveal, a reveal of what could be.
I challenge all of you who read this to make the list, keep it to yourselves, and ask yourselves, after writing the list, are you living the change you wish to see in the world?
Get out the 📝 and go turn these words into works.
