This thought-provoking post is by my now long-time pal Craig Morton. Craig Morton works as a Life Coach at Ignite Change where he helps people get unstuck and take action in their lives. He also practices and teaches yoga and is currently in the process of moving to Laos, South East Asia
The famous quote
Gandhi’s powerful but overused/pop cultured quote of “Be the change you want to see in the world” looks great on necklaces and makes you feel good when you read it, but what do we really do with it?
It is a remarkably simple statement and like all great simple statements, it is not easy to put into action.
Quotes are great to get you thinking and in the moment when we are upset at an injustice or see a quote, we get fired up. But the fire can often be more like a spark in it’s bright flash and quick fade.
So think about it.
What change could you really be in the world? What bugs you the most and how can you implement it into your personal change?
Why I’m asking
I’m currently living a few blocks from Mission St. in San Francisco. This area is an odd mix of newer upscale restaurants, a strong latino population and a lot of homeless.
Poverty, and especially homelessness, is something that wrenches my gut when I see it. My answer when asked “what is my biggest fear in life?”, is not to be buried alive or eaten by sharks, but rather having to live on the street.
Each morning around 6:30am on my way to Ashtanga Yoga practice, I walk by the same guy sitting by the entrance; his coat draped over his head, often shoeless, siting on a crate and leaning against the shop window trying to sleep.
I feel bad but keep walking.
Gandhi’s quote pops into my head, and for a brief moment, I feel the urge to do something positive or think about actual solutions, but my mind goes to blaming larger problems like society, government and even him. And by the time I get to the stairs, my mind has drifted to something else.
Personal change
I’d like to be the change that I want to see in the world. I’d like to see this one guy be in a better place. So that’s the change I’m going to work on this week.
Today I bought him some food, and tomorrow I’ll leave it beside him. My goal is to do this every couple of days for the rest of my stay here.
This won’t tackle the entire change I’d like to see, but no single small act ever does. But smaller acts lead to bigger ones.
Action begets action.
Be it personal change or any other kind, change takes action. Starting with an act of kindness to another person helps forge that personal path of taking your true beliefs and putting them into action. Once this becomes a habit, then implementing what you truly want in life, be it for yourself or others, becomes less theory and more practice.
Question:
What change could you like to see in the world and what action can you take TODAY?
Great read. The Gandhi quote is very inspirational. If you dig deeper Gandhi also understood that for his philosophy to be effective inspiration MUST be followed by action. Heres’ the cool part. The result of your action is of no consequence. It doesn’t matter. What is fundamentally important is the ACTION. To be the change, you actually have to “be” the change.
@TheDaveReynolds HI Dave. Thanks for taking it further. He was a big on promoting actions that truly represented internal truths. So often what limits our action is what we think how others will react. But if we take away the fear of the consequence, then the action is much easier to put into motion. thanks
Hello, Thank you very much for sharing this and thumbs up for your brave compassionate action!
I love Gandhi’s quote because it tells a lot and carries so much in simple words.
I would like to share with you my own understanding, which by no means excludes yours on the contrary: the verb in the quote is BE, not DO – we are so trained to take action, do more and always more whereas simply be, as natural as it should be, is something we need to learn back.
So my greatest wish is to deeply connect to who I am, stay in this connection with my deeper Self. This is the real change I am after. Actions will naturally flow after 😉
@PeeledOnion HI. I fully agree that actions need to come from our core being. And I think that raises an interesting question of “what is at our core of being?” and it’s a question that not everybody asks. So great to hear that you are on your journey of personal development and in search of that answer.