MAKING A DIFFERENCE

Occasionally I like to remind my children that they are here to make a difference in this world, this is their overall purpose as creative beings on a grand interactive evolutionary journey. Some may suggest this is an overwhelming thing to put into the mind of a child but when you break things down it’s not such a massive ask. When you consider ‘making a difference’ is about making things different, it all suddenly becomes rather simple. We don’t need to become a Martin Luther King Jr. or a Mother Teresa to make a difference. We don’t need to set out on some life long quest to feel our sense of purpose, we just need to make positive and progressive changes even if they are undertaken through the smallest of steps.

The state of discontent we feel as evolutionary beings does serve a purpose; such mental dis-ease is designed to force our hand, it is not there for us to simply accept as normal. We are not meant to tolerate the discomfort that this type of painful acceptance presents to us. When you think about it, we do not put up with the irritating buzz or high pitched beep from our alarm clock when it calls us to action every morning (we do not lie there accepting the irritation, waiting for it to miraculously stop) so why would our general irritations in life not resemble that alarm clock? Although we may hit the psychological snooze button once or twice, hoping what challenges us will stop, we do eventually answer our call to action in most cases. Perhaps feeling like we don’t have much of a choice, if the alarm bells in our head are loud enough we eventually and sometimes begrudgingly escape our comfort zone before making our stand and moving on in life.

Personally, I feel the greatest change one can make in this life begins with self. For example, if I am at times required to be the powerhouse for motivation or guidance when it comes to myself or those around me, I must work toward being powerful and clear minded. If things are beginning to malfunction around me, especially because of me and my emotions, I must check my own workings. I must look to every cog and wheel that moves within my brain. And, yes, occasionally I’ve been said to have a screw loose here or there. At times the fault I am experiencing with my brain/my perception is obvious to me and at other times not so obvious, yet no matter my state of discontent one statement always plays a fundamental part when it comes to any form of necessary attention or change/reformation – ‘How am I going to manage this?’ When we are required to make a difference, whether it be on some grand global scale or whether it simply involves something a little more personal, ‘How am I going to manage this?’ is a great starting point in the goal for ‘different’. To change our mind, we must first create conscious strategy.

Is there some alarm going off in your head? How many times have you tried ignoring it (hitting that psychological snooze button)? Is it driving you a little crazy, the way it keeps trying to get your attention, calling you to move out of your comfort zone? Well, I shall give you one simple challenge and this is it – choose one small thing in your life you would like to change, you would like to see different. Once you have identified it remember to ask yourself ‘How am I going to manage this?’ In other words, how are you going to achieve the difference you are seeking, what will your plan be? Whether it involves getting out of bed in the morning fifteen minutes earlier to achieve better planning time for the day ahead or your version of different involves you running around the back yard with a bubble wand laughing as you trail bubbles behind you (something I did the other day with my sister and nieces), make your ‘different’ work for you. By the way, bubble wands are great for a myriad of reasons, the main one being the stimulation of positive chemistry in the brain. I’m yet to meet someone who refuses to smile when interacting with bubbles.

Making the continual choice to run late for work in the mornings or making the decision to sit and focus again and again on the lack of laughter in your life forces your outcome to remain the same. Basically, the concept could not be more simple even though the challenge may be great – if we do not make a difference to our life, we will never see our desires come to fruition.

Good luck!