It’s easy to assume that people that have changed the world have some sort of superpower that us ordinary folks lack. However, what if I told you that they were more like you and I than you might think? What if I told you that you too have the potential to accomplish great things?
Mother Teresa, Malala Yousafzai, Martin Luther King jr., Steve Jobs, these are the names of ordinary people that changed the course of history. These people came from different cultures, generations and belief systems but they share one thing in common. They believed in the extraordinary.
They were able to envision a reality that did not yet exist for them. Their ideas and visions for the world were unheard of, even considered ludicrous but they didn’t let that stop them. They showed up every day as their authentic self and allowed themself to be seen. They faced criticism, they faced trials, they faced nay sayers, but they showed up anyway. They stayed true to their self and true to what they believed in.
There is a common misconception that great things are accomplished with great numbers. We live in a culture that puts a lot of emphasis on popularity. For many people it feels like how many views, likes, or followers that you have measures your impact on the world. Although there is some truth to that, popularity is not the same thing as lasting influence. There are many people that achieve great popularity in one moment and are forgotten in the next.
True influence is lasting. True influence changes the way that people think. True influence is timeless. So, although the number of people that hear your message will have some merit on the immediate impact it has, the level of influence that you achieve has much more to do with your intention than it does numbers.
” A man that moves a mountain starts by carrying away small stones.”
Confucious
Influence happens one moment at a time, one person at a time. It is an intimate exchange between two people. Mother Teresa understood this well. Her charity work had an enormous impact on the world. She helped thousands of people in her life and her teachings have impacted millions, even billions of people since. However, she didn’t think of it that way. She didn’t wake up every morning thinking ” how can I end poverty today?” instead she understood that great things are accomplished in the ordinary moments of each day. She was quoted saying “I alone cannot change the world, but I can cast a stone across waters to create many ripples.”
Mother Teresa went out into the world with the intention to love others. She set an intention to bring as much love as she possibly could into each interaction and each moment with whoever she was with. Because of her dedication to the intention to love and nurture, she was able to set in motion a movement that has rippled out into the world. Now thousands of others have dedicated their life to follow in the footsteps of Mother Teresa’s example. It is because of her dedication to the intention to love that her message was able to echo far beyond her own physical life. It may appear that people are influenced by Mother Teresa herself but they are actually being influenced by the intention she created. This is what can happen when you set an intention and nurture it in each moment.
“I alone cannot change the world, but I can cast a stone across waters to create many ripples.”
-Mother Teresa
Rather than getting yourself overwhelmed with the enormity of the problems the world faces, or getting stuck trying to come up with something that will have a big response, start asking yourself;
What can I do in this moment?
The present moment is the only time that you will ever accomplish anything and each moment is an opportunity to create a new reality. You will never accomplish your dreams in the future, you will only accomplish them in the now. Troubling yourself with trying to predict the future or manipulate the future is a futile effort. Focus on what can you do right now. Start living as if your dream is already a reality.
Start living as if your dream is already a reality.
Could you imagine if JK Rowling had sat at her desk trying to think of ways that she could impress everyone with her writing? Or what if she never published her work because she feared rejection or failure? We certainly would not have the amazing fictional Harry Potter series if that had that been the case. Instead she wrote from the intention to express herself. She wrote because it felt like an extension of who she was. Her goal was not to figure out a story that would make her rich one day. She set her intention to express herself, to express the creativity within her soul and it flowed from within her into her writing. That intention was then transferred to others through her stories. The stories she told inspired imagination in children and adults all around the world. For her to put something so intimate out into the world required great courage.
Nothing great can ever be accomplished without vulnerability.
Every person on this planet has influence. You will influence thousands of people in your lifetime alone. Every action and every word impacts the people around you every single day. The problem is, most of us do not have a clear intention with our actions and words and so our message is without integrity. We don’t stay present with ourself or others day to day. We don’t live with intention and we most certainly do not live for an intention. This is why many people will never know just how extraordinary they truly are.
People that have impacted the world, the people that have embraced their ability to be extraordinary have done so because they were true and devoted to an intention.
To set an intention is to harness and direct energy to create a reality. Everything in this universe carries it’s own vibrational frequency (energy). When we narrow our focus and hold an intention we are able to create and manifest that which does not exist and make it into a reality.
Think of the way Steve Jobs changed reality with his ideas. Before he manifested his ideas, there existed no such thing. He might have been mocked if he told people he believed one day we could communicate instantly with anyone around the world face to face from the comfort of our own home. He didn’t let the fact that his dream was “unrealistic” stop him from living as if it was already a reality. That is what belief is. To live as if something is a reality without a shred of tango evidence.
Reality is a projection of your thoughts or the things you habitually think about.”
Stephen Richards
The truth is, you can change the world. You have the ability to create a new reality for yourself and everyone else. Whatever you dream of can be manifested in this world. You only need to set the intention and devote yourself to it in every moment. Does that mean that you will never doubt? Does that mean that you will never fail?
NO.
You will still face trials, you will still face days when you don’t feel inspired. You are human. Failure and pain are part of living in this world, it is a part of being alive. However, that does not mean that your dream cannot become a reality. If you dream of change in the world, no matter how big or how ludicrous it may seem, and you dedicate your heart to it, it will come to be.
The timing, however, is not up to us. Sometimes our dream unfolds after our physical life has ended. This is why it is important to set an intention that is greater than the ego. If your intention is to gain popularity, fame, fortune or recognition, you may gain those things but it will be short lived. Like a mist on the water, here one moment and gone the next.
Martin Luther King jr. never had the opportunity to see his dream unfold. He didn’t live to see the words in his famous ” I Have A Dream” speech come true. Yet even after his tragic departure from this earth his words continue to echo across time. His intention to unite a nation divided continues to change lives for the better every single day. When we set an intention that is greater than ourself, greater than our ego, an intention that connects us to the whole, that is when extraordinary things start to happen.
When we set an intention that is greater than ourself, greater than our ego, an intention that connects us to the whole, that is when extraordinary things start to happen.
The Inspired Soul Podcast
What intention do you live by?
I encourage you to look deep into your soul. Listen to What calls out to you. What intention speaks to your heart? Find that part of you that longs to break free into the world. Find that vision of a reality that feels more real to you than anything you’ve ever experienced in your life and dive into it. Share that truth, share that dream.
Dare to be extraordinary.
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