Quote: PEACE – it does not mean to be in a place where there is no noise, trouble or hard work. It means to be in the midst of those things and still be calm in your heart.

As a Coach I quite often ask my clients what is it you want to accomplish from your actions.   Often they want to change the world, make a difference.    There is a lot of talk about changing the world and to me this is a tall order but  like many others I would like to think there was potential for leaving this world in a better place than I find it today.  There is also a lot of talk these days of us all being one, not separate or individual units but all connected.   I totally agree with this, however, when it comes to changing the world I believe that changing the world and making a difference are two different things.  When it comes to changing the world I truly believe we have to start  local with changing ourselves first.  Learning new ways to communicate, think, behave ulitmately  impacts on others creating a  ripple effect which then becomes global.  

For instance if you take an apple and drop it on the floor a few times it’s skin may be become bruised or even broken, it might lose some of it’s juices and become soft and soggy in parts and not fit to eat.    However if you take a knife and peel the apple and slice it up, at the core it is still a perfect apple.   Life is all about bumps and bruises, ups and downs, and we  have this enforced daily by the media and could easily start thinking our world is a terrible place and we can do very little to make a difference.

What if we can make change by first of all changing the way we think about our world local.  There are 168 hours in a week and I can remember a time when I tried to fit in 250 hours into a week or that was what it felt like.  What I was actually doing was a bad job but what I was hoping to achieve was a good job. It didn’t work, I ended up totally exhausted and stressed which resulted in foggy thinking, lack of concentration, resentment that no matter how hard I worked I was not getting the results I wanted. 

Today I talked to a client who was not only trying to expand 168 hours into 250 hours, but her son was trying to do the same thing with 5 extra evening activities after school which extended their day into non-stop 12 hour days!   No wonder she walked through my office door flopped into a chair and declared I don’t know what is wrong with me.   I was in that space once upon a time, I know how she feels, I also know that the difference that makes the difference is changing yourself first before you can have any affect in changing the world around you.  This involves taking a look at our conditioning and our beliefs of how people expect us to behave.

I started making changes that first of all made a difference in my world, in others words I started local but my thinking was global.  If I could change some of my habits and behaviours create new strategies that nurtured me ,local,  then everyone connected to me and beyond would benefit, global.  

Here is how I started and suggested that my client may want to give it a try.   Firstly,  I took a look at my diary in Outlook on the computer.  I then decided to use the colour coding option.  Training Days  = blue, Community Group facilitation = Orange, One to One coaching = Yellow, Family commitments = Purple, and I became Green.   Each week I committed to three appointments of 1 hour for me.  This was used initially to create new strategies for decreasing stress, whether it was catching up with a girl friend for coffee, going for a swim, walking, reading, or having a declutter in my home office and other rooms to create new energy and flow throughout the house.  Each week I could easily see on my diary sheet the Green coding and knew there had to be three Green appointments which at a glance kept me on track.

I recently attended the Hay House “I Can Do It” Conference in London where Science & Spirituality came together, and whilst the many speakers  delivered their message in different ways the message was the same.  We are all connected.  Our world is in crisis, but a new world is emerging before our eyes, a world of co-operation not competition but for this to happen we all must play a part. We are at a tipping point in our existence and we’ve been on Earth much longer than acknowledged by conventional history.  Gregg Braden in his new book “Deep Truth” states “when new discoveries cast doubt on existing beliefs, it’s time to rethink the beliefs!” Now is the time for us to change our beliefs on how we can contribute in this global change.

I have attached a link and if you feel inclined take a little time to chill out and discover what this means I hope you enjoy it.   http://www.scienceofpeace.com/document.html

Coming away from the Conference I wondered how we as individuals can make a difference and have come to the conclusion that if each of us took 30 minutes per week to help someone, listen to someone, to connect with someone new, then this small act local could eventually ripple becoming global.  If we are all connected then the connection would be sustained becoming stronger and stronger and maybe our world will begin to be a better place. After all, that is what we all want….. right?

So I have put a new colour on my outlook  diary which is red a colour I associate with power, and 30 minutes per week I am going to focus on making a connection by either supporting, or listening, or doing something that makes a difference, because I for one want to be part of a new emerging world of co-operation and peace.  How about you?  Would love to hear your comments.