“If you think you are too small to make a difference, try sleeping with a mosquito!”
Dalai Lama
Despite all the evidence on the news to the contrary, there are many sincere and good people, all over the world, trying very hard to make a difference, and succeeding in many areas. The fact that some want to make a difference means that they want change. However, where does real change lie? It begins with small things and is based on our attitude of mind. Actions performed just for the sake of it, or just because it is a duty that has to be fulfilled, with a ‘let’s get this over with’ attitude is an action of stunted vision. For example, if it is my role to cook for someone, or for my family each day, but I cook with an attitude of just getting food on the table, doing it in a rush with no care or any feeling of nurture, then that attitude is within the meal I prepare. Who will really enjoy that? If, however, I prepare the meal with love, even if I have little time, and from my heart have wishes that the food will nourish my family, the meal will do far more than just provide the calories and nutrition they need.
So, I may not even need to change what I do every day to make a difference, it may be that what I need to do is simply change my attitude. We are all exposed to many different influences each day. If we keep having a knee jerk response to everything, based on our awareness of our physical identity; our role, gender, job, ethnicity, religion – then we will become exhausted fulfilling what is expected of us. We have to be able to step back from these influences and keep our awareness beyond all that is going on around us. They say that life is a little like an ocean, and we the boats. The boat has to be in the water, but the water must not be in the boat. We are in fact all in the same boat – so can I keep a steady head and keep cool, and not panic, no matter what the circumstances are?
The key to cultivating a new awareness is to take time each day to look within at the original deep purity of the self, the soul, who operates the body. I, the soul, have been born into a body that has a family, religion, nationality, but those elements do not define me, because I am light, energy. The thoughts I have are within the soul, not the brain or the body. It is thoughts that are our energy, and most of the time we are thinking of anything but the present moment. If we cultivate the consciousness of being the soul acting through the body, and keep our thoughts firmly in the present, then it is much easier to connect with the Divine, God, and be guided. God wants to guide all souls, but if my line is ‘busy’, then God cannot ‘get through’. If I am able to stay beyond the influences, and in a state of original peace and purity, God will guide me in the right direction. It is in this way that I am able to make a real difference. We have all been in the presence of a special person who has immense love for humanity, or who is able to maintain a deep sense of peace and calm in a crisis, and we take inspiration from them. That is the kind of difference we can make. If we can create an atmosphere of goodness, peace and love, the qualities that everyone in the world are thirsty for, then we can make a difference. We can all donate good thoughts each day for the benefit of the world, and we must not underestimate the power of that. If we have thoughts of this calibre and our minds are connected with the Divine, then what can we not achieve? It is the love of God that can really make a difference.
Maureen Goodman is the Programme Director for the Brahma Kumaris UK, and BK NGO representative to the United Nations in Vienna.