Marthe Hagen is a soulful and adventurous writer and imagemaker. She shares her wisdom, musings and philosophy along with her visual inspiration over at The Freedom Experiment. She collects dreams and would love it if you would share yours. You can follow her at @Marthehhagen.
Mahatma Ghandi said “be the change you want to see in the world“. It’s a beautiful expression, but it’s a bit harder than it sounds, isn’t it?
But this change can carry whatever meaning you give it. How do you think the world can be a better place? For you and for others? Personally, I think the world would be better if we foster love and connection instead of hatred and fear. Here is a little list of things we all can do to make it happen:
1. Tell the people you care about how you feel and why. Start out with friends and family. Then go on and tell the guy in the coffee shop that he makes the best coffee around your part of the world. Tell you neighbors that you appreciate them. Tell the people who look good on the street that they have good taste. Compliment the blogger whose blog you read in silence.
2. Buy flowers (or even better – seedbombs) and spread them around your neighborhood. Make the world pretty. Decorate your home, leave karma cards and love notes around. Plant trees.
3. Forgive someone who did you wrong. Holding grudge will destroy you and hold you back. Forgive them for your own sake, forgive them to make the world a better place for everybody. Forgive someone for the sake of forgiveness. Wish them a happy life and mean it. Do it for love.
4. End an argument. Admit that you were wrong, or swallow a hurtful insult to keep peace. Commit to resolve an issue with dignity and respect. Commit to argue with love; listen and don’t generalize.
5. Turn anger into love. Negative emotions like anger are often a reflection of love. Look at why you’re angry in the first place. Is someone threatening something or someone you love? Are you angry with someone who did you wrong? Look for the love and everything else will make sense and be easier to handle.
6. Be good to this earth. Buy local and organic, use public transport and don’t use plastic bags. It might seem like too small to matter, but even loving the earth in small portions make it a less toxic environment.
7. Spend time with real people. I mean, spend time with people who matter to you. Connect with people who have love in their hearts and stars in their eyes. Spend less time with people who complain, gossip and spread hate and insecurity.
8. Consume goodness and happiness. Don’t eat hate for breakfast and fear for dinner. In other words, don’t support and read newspapers and TV channels when their only intention is to sell you fear and despair. Start your day with sunshine and love by reading something that will inspire you and lift you up. And how about watching a TED talk instead of the evening news?
9. Take care of yourself. You can’t heal the world if you’re broken. It might feel selfish, but the best thing you can do to make the world better is to take care of yourself. Work on your own well being physically, emotionally and spiritually.
10. Help someone. Help mums with strollers get on the bus, help a tourist find their way, help a friend by listening, help a co-worker finish a project. This will make the world a better place, it will make another person’s day and you will feel great too.
How do you think the world can be a better place? What do you do to make it happen?