In life its really easy to say THAT SUCKS, THIS IS TOTALLY LAME or I WISH SOMEONE would do something (like make sleeping bags out of gummy bears – comfy and edible!). Its not very often I hear people stating workable solutions AND taking action in order to improve what they view as an injustice or challenge.
Being a writer I have a platform to write about topics and bitch if I so desire. For the most part I enjoy sharing tools to re-frame thinking, but not everything is solved by just thinking differently. It needs to be paired with heart-felt action. My personal goal is to inspire a change in thinking, that spawns off into a change in action unique each person’s soul path.
Of course, this is just one approach. There are so many ways you can make a difference in the world every day, based on simple life choices. In fact, you probably have already done it a handful of times today without even realizing it.
Change Agents Come in All Shapes and Sizes
This week I listened to a variety of speakers from a webinar series on social entrepreneurship. Julia Butterfly Hill’s interview was especially inspiring because she did something extraordinary that came completely from her heart AND impacted millions of people at the same time.
The most touching part was that it was not pre-meditated or born out of self promotion. She saw the need to bring attention to the destruction of red wood trees in California, in particular to a 1500 year old tree named Luna in danger of being cut down by the Pacific Lumber Company. You can read more about it here.
She took up life in the tree tops of Luna, and a few years (738 days) later, without touching the ground once, she inspired people, brought an important message to light and did something that truly fed her soul. Hill also had a team of people on the ground supporting her efforts who believed in message. She took a bold, clear step towards change and a like-minded community showed up to support it AND her.
Know Your Gifts and Claim Your Weaknesses
During her interview, Hill talked about how sometimes her actions seem even unreal to her, mainly because it was such a snap decision with no pre-planning. She also still marvels at the fact that such a simple choice to take action on her part had an impact in ways she never expected.
At the end of her interview she said something that continues to resonate with me, because it so very succinctly states one of my core values, (paraphrased) “you are actively contributing to activism or your community in some way each and every time you make a choice with your money, time or energy.”
This is what drives me to share what I learn and to write about useful tools and perspectives, so I can enable any reader to get super clear on what honors their soul’s song. When you know yourself as best you can, you make choices that support an awesome bigger picture for all of us, without even trying. Your heart guides you to the best option in the moment and the rest is able to come into focus and support you.
Do your actions need to be as drastic as Hill’s to make an impact? No. But flipping the script is always a great way to gain new perspective and insights. How can you do that for yourself this week? Tell me!
Photo on Flickr by alasis