In the past few days a lot has shifted and a few thoughts have crossed my mind, how can I have an influence on humanity through my interest in spreading mindfulness? I am a small fish in a worldly pond and my experience cannot be acknowledge as much as some of the big names out there.
This thought has increased especially after I finished reading the books by @Rasmus Hougaard's "One Second Ahead," related to mindfulness at work, @Arthur C. Brooks' "Love Your Enemies,"about leadership and how a culture needs to change for a better future, and @Scott Harrison's "Thirst," telling the story of his journey of bringing clean water to the less fortunate. The content of those books are very different, the story they tell have the same outcome, which is if we have compassion, love, and raised awareness to what is happening around us, we are able to improve our future.
Each book has moved me in different ways. Hougaard showed me that if we change little habits in our daily approaches, we could be able to get worthwhile results in the long run. And Brooks proved that if we don't start to understand the sides we disagree with and find common ground in the midst of the most troublesome debates we won't be able to live side by side respecting ourselves and one another. Last but not least, Harrison's story has taught me that is never too late to do what's right for yourself and the community you want to support. There are almost 8 billion people in the world, if each one of them chooses to do the right thing for themselves and be a greater person than just a good person, I am sure we could achieve so much more. One way that I realized I can make a difference is by re-telling these stories, by laying out the importance of each subject, and how they relate them to our surroundings, to the things that we mostly care about and what we can change in our small circle to make this home a better place.
I herewith start by raising awareness that each one of us could pick one action today that they care about to change. It could be as small as putting your dirty clothes in the laundry bag, removing all the dishes from the table into the sink, or placing your shoes next to each other by the entrance. Maybe these small actions will teach us that it doesn't take much to make a difference.
Let's raise awareness to be loving and compassionate people in this one life we have.