Funny how the universe can step up and provide the motivation or the answer or the person you need for the day. This came to me through a news letter I subscribe to and it reminded me that we often change the world in baby steps and sometimes by simply by being present and bringing to it our selves: a sense of grace, a positive or negative attitude, the mindset of victim or creator…. And so on.
So today, another day of inactivity at work: there is no power, no fuel, no one there. How do I use this day? Well – I can sit home and do my laundry – which needs doing. I can read another book – have read over 100 now in the year plus that I’ve been here. What I will probably do is wander to the Gulu Public Library and see if I can get started organizing their children’s collection. That’s going to take some doing….
But it’s all…. DOING. (Yes, yes – and now I am DOING by blogging… forgive me 😉 But I’m thinking with my mouth open or shall I say with my fingers on the keyboard…) In Peace Corps and in life in general, I think, we often feel we are not impacting the change we want to see in the world unless we are doing BIG things – and that would be a mistake in thinking. Development work is a constant reminder that BIG things do not happen fast. At least in PC we are in the business of planting seeds we may never see come to harvest – in the way we imagine, anyway. Simultaneously, though we are forming relationships – with others yes. But also with ourselves. It’s a great crucible and the process can be transformative if we can be with it.
I don’t know what element I will be when I get on the other side of this process, but I do know part of my journey here is a forced slowing down from my innate tendendy of “have to do this, that, the other,” and consider my worth or my contributions in the most basic of terms. It’s an opportunity to apply those tools I taught for so long in the ethereal sense to the practical world, both mine and others. What do I bring to today? What attitude? What energy do I put out there? The opportunities for frustration, judgement, condescension, compassion and consideration are rife here. But they are rife everywhere, aren’t they? Here I have time to think and be. In fact, often I AM FORCED to be – and, as I said – this is not a natural state for me. In some ways it’s a luxury to have this gift of time. In the hubbub of the developed world, it’s easy to get consumed and stay “too busy.”
Sometimes it’s legit and other time we make-busy to avoid facing our inner turmoil. And I know because I can make “busy” out of almost anything!
Back home I taught a lot of classes offers tools to manage one’s own energy – knowing that the “vibration” we carry influences everything: our lives and those around us. It gives a different slant on the quote: “BE THE CHANGE you want to see in the world.” And I like that. Note that it says BE the change, not MAKE the change. “Being the Change” can be as small as that random act of kindness: taking time to speak to the old woman or the beggar on the street, take time to listen – really listen – to a friend, spend the night at a homeless shelter to be able to keep it open, lend a book, pick up a piece of litter, share a meal, be a caring parent, son or daughter. Some times, just by virtue of being in the room – we change the dynamic. It’s true. There was a great piece of research done a while back that had to do with putting two people in a room and attaching them each to an EEG to monitor brain activity. There was no conversation, eye contact, external communication or agenda of any sort. What they discovered over and over was that the person with the most coherent (translate as: calm, centered….) brainwave patters had the greatest influence in the room: gradually the less “organized” EEG would attune to the coherent pattern and frequency. As a person whose background is the study of sound and vibrations this makes sense, but translating that into a daily way of approaching the world is an interesting exercise in each moment.
When the picture and saying above came across my screen this morning it felt like a gift and I wanted to pass it along and again share Margaret Mead’s quote:
“Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world;
indeed, it’s the only thing that ever has.”
And now I admit to the need to be busy again and hoof it to the library to arrange something…. Forgive me for being too “thoughty” as my mother would say…
