Tag Archives: Change the World

Change the World

Thoughts On Life, , , ,
From an afternoon spent on the patio.

“If you bring peace to the world rather than try to find peace in the world, you will change the world.” -from Be the Light That You Are, by Debra Engle.

I love this quote. It rings true to me. If you bring peace to the world, doesn’t that mean that you are sharing and radiating peace? Henceforth, you are surrounded by peace. And if you are surrounded by peace, you are radiating a little bit of it wherever you go.

In the same book, Debra Engle also says the following variants on this quote.

“If you bring love to the world rather than try to find love in the world, you will change the world.”

and

“If you bring acceptance to the world rather than try to find acceptance in the world, you will change the world.”

If this is true, we have the ability to bring peace, love, and acceptance to those around us. What a magical power. I want to change the world! Sometimes sharing peace, love, and acceptance is easier than other times. So, what if we try to inject one of these three things into the world, just once each day? Is not the world still improved? I say that it is. I say this is an admirable goal. And not being a perfect human, there will be days when I don’t share any of these things with the world. There’s always the next day when maybe I can bring two positive experiences to those around me.

What if I conquer bringing peace, love, or acceptance to the world once each day? Then I could go on to share these things twice each day. The possibilities are endless!

And there are those times when people see us fail. The failures are only in the immediate sense. For then we try again. And eventually we get it right. Sometimes these failures can still bring good to the world. Other people see that we are not perfect. We struggle to share peace, love, and acceptance with those around us. A few will notice that although we fail at times, we try again. This may be enough to inspire others to attempt to add whatever peace, love, and acceptance that they can as well.

The affect is not always immediate. Someone may remember a kindness that you have shared farther down the path of their lives. Kindnesses are never wasted. They do not exist in a vacuum; they exist in the world. And a kindness does not need to be noticed by others to have value. The fact that it was, makes the world a better place.

I want to leave the world a better place. Won’t you consider joining me in leaving the world a better place too? One small kindness from all of us can have massive impacts. I send you peace, my friends.

With Positivity, You Can Change the World!

Books & Reading, Thoughts On Life, , ,

Book of Positive Quotes
A Wonderful Book of Positivity

In these difficult times, we can all use more positivity in our lives. I came across this gem a number of years ago when a family member posted a page from it on Facebook. Thanks Jim Z! Once I read the page, I knew I needed a copy of the book. I was able to get a copy on Amazon Used Books for 12 cents! Plus the $3.99 shipping, of course. I checked and you can still get a used copy for under $1.00. It is the type of book with a one page entry for each calendar day.

I used to keep my copy at work and read each day’s selection in the morning so that I could reflect on it and start my day in a positive way. On Monday’s I would read the weekend’s pages along with the one for the current day. It served me well and got me in a good frame of mind for the workday. Sometimes, after I had the book for a  while, I would take a year off of the daily readings and just read a random page when the mood struck me. I always benefited from my reading.

With the upheaval we are experiencing in our daily lives due to the coronavirus, as well as political unrest, I thought this would be a good year to spend reading the entries in this book on a daily basis once again. It was a wise decision for multiple reasons. The entries are helping me to get a perspective on our current times and not feel so sorry for myself.

This is also the first time that I have read through the book as a retiree. It makes me look at many of the entries in a different light. I have time to go back and read the quote at the top of the page more than once during the morning and refocus and give more thought to the meaning and how it may or may not apply to my own life. I recommend this practice for anyone. If you are feeling down, or like your life could be better, spending time thinking about positive quotes would be a helpful activity.

And if you are in a good place in your life, then spending time focusing on positive thoughts is an investment in keeping your life on track and staying in that good place. Life has its ups and downs and working at staying on the up side is time well spent.

Although this book is a good starting place, it is not the only way to go about it. You can find lists of many positive quotes on the internet. There are lists of quotes by many wise people. One of my favorites is Ghandi’s Top 10 Fundamentals for Changing the World. Don’t you want to change the world? I know, I do. And each and every one of us has that ability. So, go out and get busy changing the world!