“Be the change you wish to see in the world.”
When Gandhi spoke these words, I assume he wasn’t intending for them to become a pithy aphorism relegated to coffee mugs and motivational posters hanging in corporate offices.
Because pithy aphorisms don’t hold any power. We move past the words in the way we breeze through a casual “how are you” or “good to see you.”
Words that simultaneously say something yet mean…nothing at all.
But when we bury these words in the aphorism graveyard, we forget the life and truth that they contain.
And these words - be the change - happen to contain one of the greatest tools we have in our psychological toolkit.
Sadness. Anger. Frustration. Loneliness.
When we find ourselves struggling with these things, it’s natural for the world to revolve around us and our emotional state. After all, our lived experience is the focal point of our existence for our limited time above dirt. So naturally we look inward to resolve them. We numb the pain. We ignore the signs. We distract ourselves. We do whatever we can to escape the inescapable with ourselves remaining central to the story.
But one of the greatest gifts we can give ourselves and others lies in doing the opposite.
When we help someone else feel seen when they’ve only felt loneliness, we help resolve the loneliness in ourselves.
When we listen without judgement as someone else processes their own anger or frustration, we’re silently coaching ourselves how to process our own anger and frustration.
When we bring a smile to someone’s face who has recently only known frowns or tears, we salve our own sadness.
The ego is central to every great religion and philosophy on earth. We’ve spent thousands of years collectively trying to understand how to remove the unremovable thorn from our side that we label the ego.
But maybe the answer the entire time has been to stop looking at our own egoic wound. Because as long as the story continues to revolve around us, the thorn retains its’ role in central casting.
Be the change.
It’s a verb. An action. And it requires us to influence the world by influencing those around us. Not an influence of belief, but an influence of emotion.
To create joy in ourselves, the path doesn’t run through us, but through our ability and willingness to create joy in others.
No coffee mug or poster required.
✌️ and ❤️,
Adam Griffin
Certified High Performance Coach™
👉 Forward Coaching