How do you change the world? One small step at a time
Do you ever feel like you want to change the world? That if only you had more power, you could right wrongs and end poverty and suffering? It can be frustrating to look around, bewildered, angry, and heartbroken by events beyond your control, resulting in feelings of helplessness. After all, what can one person do? And where do you start?
Yet everyone has a part they can play to bring about change. Even one person’s emotional reactions, including frustration and hopelessness, can be alchemised into the strength, courage, and inspiration to make a difference. As the Dalai Lama once said: ‘If you think you are too small to make a difference, try sleeping with a mosquito.’
Find your niche
To begin thinking about this, consider an area you’re passionate about. It might be the environment, wildlife, inequality, emotional wellbeing, or children’s welfare. Finding a niche – rather than trying to address myriad interests and causes – can be an effective way to concentrate energies and focus attention. It can also be a powerful antidote to becoming dispirited by another day of seemingly relentless bad news on TV, social media, and newspapers.
If you aren’t sure what to choose, spend time noticing which topics or events elicit your strongest feelings. Is there a particular issue that never fails to make you angry or sad?
Sometimes, it might be tied to personal experience, and striving for change in the area can be a form of healing. Helen, a life coach, helps people to find work that they love. She was driven to do this by her own experience of working in a toxic culture that affected her physically and psychologically.
However, when the impetus for action stems from personal experiences, it can be even more important to take care of your emotions. Destructive lived experiences can cause people to take on too much or to become caught in the upset without having a clear plan as to how to make the difference they so desire. Talking things through with a trusted friend or family member who shares your passion can help, as can the practice of journalling.
And while having a good cry might seem futile in your quest for change, it’s important to be with these feelings, while letting them go can help move you out of an emotional state and into one where you can think more clearly. For example, if a report or incident upsets or angers you, notice any feelings welling up, bring mindful awareness to them and experience the emotions in their raw form.
Cry if you need to, meditate, and allow yourself to be. ‘Noticing feelings of frustration, hopelessness and/or helplessness can be a great start,’ says Helen. ‘It’s like lighting a match. There’s energy in those feelings and that’s something to channel. Maybe we can’t do that right away – I like to walk or swim with those feelings if I get really despondent, and then channel that energy a few days later into a piece of writing, a conversation, or into doing something I believe in.’
She adds that it’s important to practise self-care during the process: ‘Finding out what tops up your batteries and knowing yourself can help you get past any roadblocks. If you’re going to regularly stand up and speak out or support others, you need to nourish yourself often. I tend to work one-to-one and in small groups, so for those who work on a larger scale, it’s going to be even more applicable. Scheduling time to regroup and nurture your own wellbeing and creativity is vital.’
Take small steps
Repeat this like a mantra. You do not have to solve the climate crisis or deliver world peace. It’s more likely that having such a huge goal will add to feelings of hopelessness. Instead, focus on your day, your week, your month ahead, and work out what small steps you can take during this time. You might also narrow your focus.
For example, if you’re keen to reduce global warming or worldwide plastic pollution, you could make adjustments in your own life that reflect this concern and support local initiatives and stores that share this aim.
A slow, steady pace also allows you to work mindfully.
You can complete tasks while being aware of any feelings of frustration or hopelessness that come up. If they do, stop and take a few moments to breathe and allow the feelings to be. Again, journalling can be useful as it enables you to acknowledge and process emotions, and it might help to transform them into new inspiration.
Small steps can also involve placing your trust in other people’s hands and acknowledging their capabilities and strengths. No one is going to change the world alone. The cumulative effect of what you do and what others are doing will move mountains.
Measure your progress
Keeping track of your work can help highlight that small steps really do add up. Swiss-based intuition mentor Christine enables people to use their gut feelings to help make decisions. ‘I make lists of changes that have occurred,’ she says. ‘The things I’ve done each day. The small moments add up over time. One of my mentors keeps a “triumph log” where he writes three things he brought from idea to reality each day. It’s like a gratitude journal except that it’s actual, physical results, not just thoughts.’
This idea of looking back at a record of what you’ve done can help you to realise that small, thoughtful actions equal bigger change. So hang in there. Little by little, you’ll make an impact. And every emotion you experience en route can be alchemised into the strength and clarity needed to pursue your desire for change.
