Over the past several weeks I have watched in disbelief the atrocities unfolding in Ukraine. My heart aches for the people of Ukraine who are losing their homes, livelihoods, security and lives. There is so much turmoil in our world and it seems like it is only getting worse each day.

Just like everyone else, I want to see change happen. I want to see people be kind to one another, accept and appreciate differences as awesome diversity, and to come together in community. I want a world with less fear and more joy, less anger and more compassion, less loneliness and more love.

I have been thinking over the last several years, and even more so the last several weeks, what I can do to help create change in the world. I continue to come back to the expression so often attributed to Gandhi: “Be the change you wish to see in the world.” What he actually said is so much more powerful: “We but mirror the world. All the tendencies present in the outer world are to be found in the world of our body. If we could change ourselves, the tendencies in the world would also change.”

This quote keeps bringing me back to the truth that I have no control over what other people do—not my husband, my child, and certainly not a dictator half a world away. What I do control are my thoughts, emotions and actions. I am taking a hard look at all of these and seeing that I am not always showing up in joy, compassion and love.

When I see a hateful post shared on social media or a damaging statement made by a politician, I have a mental argument with that person about how wrong they are, how they are the problem and how they need to change. I become self-righteous, frustrated and downright angry. As a result, I am now contributing to the very separation and fear of which I want less in our world.

So, every day I work on getting a little better. When I am angry, I think about what I may be doing to cause anger or frustration in others. I think about the ways I have been unkind or thoughtless. Perhaps in my busy-ness I have made someone feel overlooked or unvalued, not given them the attention they deserve.

When I am seeing the world through a lens of fear, I think about how I might be causing fear in others. I may be holding a secret someone is afraid I will divulge, or perhaps I am not showing a team member how great a job they are doing, and now they are scared they will lose their job. In my frustration to get a problem solved at the bank, my anger may have caused fear in the teller who was trying to assist me.

The energy, both positive and negative, that we are putting out in the world contributes to the overall energy of the planet. Even though the examples above are not as extreme as a dictator bombing the citizens of a sovereign country, when combined with billions of other people’s anger, frustration and fear, it becomes overwhelming.

This is why I am committing myself to be cognizant of my thoughts and emotions; in every interaction, I will do my best to lovingly control the energy I am emanating into the world. Seemingly a small step, as we individually do our part, we will collectively and exponentially rise with a higher vibratory rate, together reaping the benefits of more and more “soul”utions from this higher consciousness awareness which we have deliberately and lovingly co-created. 

Peace Be,