Cafe Weekly Discussions

Hello Lovelies!

We're introducing a new little feature here in the Lounge. It's a weekly discussion designed to inspire and I'd like to invite you to participate :)

There's so many wonderful people on Gaia. I know you are all out there spreading your light and making a difference in the world. So, this week's topic is about just that, making a difference.

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I pay it forward by donating to programs I believe in like Kiva
and  Doctors Without Borders.

I enjoy doing random acts of kindness and taking care of things
I see in front of me.

Giving a senior a ride if I see them walking or waiting,
recently an elderly woman in front of me in the grocery store line asked the checker to call her a cab.
I volunteered to drive her home and made her day.

Little things like that can really make a positive difference to one person
and it makes us feel good to do it.

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I give to every school two educational dvd's that I made for their grow your own lunch programs.  I have been doing this for 2 years now.  The blessing back is when the kids send pictures after doing the video.  I am building a website with just their pictures that i will put up this year.

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Wow, LB and Kathy… you're both brilliant! 

I do think globally while acting locally.  I try to let everyone around me know how appreciated, loved, and cherished they are… how important it is to me that they are in my life, even if they're people I'm meeting for the first time.  I try to make sure that my words come from a place of kindness, even when I'm joking or disagreeing.  I don't always succeed, but I am a work in progress.  Yet, I'm not sugar coating anything.  When I let people know how amazing they are, I'm being honest.  I truly feel as though I'm seeing their hearts, as best I can, and speaking from a place of integrity.  I think it's really important to see the beauty in others, and to acknowledge it.  I'm so grateful for all the beauty I am surrounded by.

Thanks for starting this thread, Jessica.  I love the intention behind it :)

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…..thank you dear Eli for sharing the ' universal truth ' of sorts ..

….words like these from a matured & mellowed soul like you will always be significant, carrying a special weight & flavour for people like me ….

yes ,

”Jo man changa to kathauti me Ganga”!!…

love & hugs,

-jagadish

ps:- ..the ' reply ' button under your post was not responding , so i am sending this under matthew's post which responded…

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In India, there is a famous proverb ”Jo man changa to kathauti me Ganga” meaning, if one's thoughts are pure, one has holy water in his personal cup.
After years of extending outwards- trying to make a difference to the world - I realized the meaning of this profound truth and turned inwards looking for the answer.

..and through realizations I discovered a few simple truths:

1. We should learn to forgive ourself
2. Change comes when it comes .. we must be patient
3. If we think good, see only good and pray sincerely the world looks a brighter and better place. The negatives are not “out there” they are “inside us” and we only hurt ourself by seeing and feeling negatively. While the world moves on, we keep bleeding inside feeling hurt and lonely.
4. God is kind and blessings are always there, we only need to be aware of the blessings.
5.Truth is simple, not a complex concept but unfortunately it is not simple to think simple.

And at the fag end of my life, I can most humbly submit that this is my way to try and make a difference in the world and to those around us.

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All great ideas here,
Amen to these Eli. Thinking yes, and maybe peace will be realised when enough people who have realised these truths interconnect, for we are one, one planet, one universe.
Maybe also being content with less  so that others can have more, eg maybe paying a little more for fair trade so that those in poor countries gain more, thinking about our needs as opposed to wants, reducing our emissions - creating emissions affects the poorest first

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I deliver lectures on healthy chemical free soil to groups & am a volunteer editor for a yoga website for their nutrition and organic articles and deliver public service announcements for radio and television on organic gardening.  I enjoy networking around the world writing to help anyone start organic gardening.

I agree on the write up by Eli with Zephyr, Jagadish & Eli - Blessings are great.

I am grateful for ~Matthew and read the amazing support knowing code :-) & helping all of us navigate this Gaia site smoothly.

Like *Ladybear~I am a supporter of Doctors Without Borders.   You are also an angel and helped me feel so much more comfortable when I was new here.  Thanks.

Thanks Jessica for posting this.  I love the website you told us about in Integral Veggin Group and use your advice from that group to pass it forward.  I followed all you have taught us on how to use Gaia and want to thank you for that.

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Like *Ladybear~I am a supporter of Doctors Without Borders.   You are also an angel and helped me feel so much more comfortable when I was new here.  Thanks.


It's my pleasure to know you, Lee. You are a giver and a treasure here.
Thanks for the shout out here.

Hugs from your friend,  Ladybear

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I was speaking with someone this morning who said something that pertains, I think, perfectly to this topic. I'd asked him something similar—something along the lines of what is the greatest (as in biggest and most impactful) way to make a difference? His response struck me.

It was to remember the importance, and the significance, of one. Helping or facilitating a profound transformation in one single person's life—the person in front of you, or the one person standing in the crowd of thousands who is ready to be changed, and ready for your own gift—resonates throughout the universe in ways that no minor change in the lives of millions can approach. I thought it was a beautiful reminder of intention and attention, and I want to remember this.

So I'd say that YOU make a difference. You, here, make more of a difference than all your abstract thoughts, all the future actions you might take, all your plans and ideas, even your all dreams. What makes a difference is you, here, and now. And it's this that will continue to make a difference, in this moment, and the next, and the next.

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Jessica,
This is a great idea! 
I am a teacher, and I always try my best to reach out to my students.  I have cycled out of the traditional classroom, and now I teach technology.  I see about 450 students a week.  Each day, I try to make a difference in some way.  My ex husband always used to get mad at me for trying so hard at work.  He used to say “You know what, Sue?  I don't know why you give so much of yourself at work!  You can't save the world.  I don't know why you're trying.”  His attitude is one of the reasons that I'm no longer married to him.  The point is this… I don't know the exponential value of the work that I do.  Something I say or teach today, might be the very thing that a student draws from tomorrow, a year from now or even 20 years from now.  Until someone proves me wrong, I'm going to continue to give - to nurture, to teach to feel… trying to make a difference in the life of a child.
Hugs!
-Susan

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Susan, that is so beautiful. Teachers can make such a difference for their students. There are so many who don't try, but I believe those who do end up succeeding and changing the lives of others.

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How can we make a difference in the world and to those around us?
Do you start locally? Do you think globally? What has worked for you or what have others done to make a difference that inspired or moved you?

By following our guidance about whether we're meant to act locally or globally. Knowing that others are doing the same.

Giving space and making a space around ourselves that allows us to serve our goal.

I  work locally: trying to live according to the ideals and principles that resonate; striving to help those around me who ask for tools of transformation or healing; and not advise those who do not want to move; give to the homeless person whose smile and blessings give back a thousand-fold….

In a phrase, from my pov, we can make a difference in the world and to those around us by being a center of peace and joy that radiates outward. If I am surrounded by peace, I am doing okay; but till I am, I have to keep striving.

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My social life is the internet, so those I see daily are my elderly clients whom I do my very best for, to make them feel happy, loved, useful and loved.

I join in as many global meditations as I can for peace.

And send healing, positivity etc to all who ask for it.

Other than that, I do my best to look after myself, mentally, physically and emotionally so I am able to help others to the best of my ability.

Love mia xx

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I find myself in the situation of being with very few people at a time,but I have the tools and am deep in Nature to really affect people in a positive way. Over the years,when I read through the guest book,I realise that this retreat has changed many people for the better.
  Kindness and Compassion mixed with Love and Patience,in the bowl of Nature stirred gently with Water not only helps my guests but me…as Mathew,I am still a work in progress,and I love that….
    I thank all the beautiful posts here,as reading them illuminated my mind and I felt that possibility of a better World……………Love   Ralph

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We are all making a difference when we are truly ourselves and doing our life task.  We are each giving a part of ourselves and offering it here on Gaia ….we are opening up and healing our lives each and every day….We are like pieces of a jigsaw - when we all pull together and “join” with others we see a wonderful picture emerging - our energies compliment and strengthen each new life we touch…

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Hi Jess, Yes, i like your idea.
A topic in focus, difficulty in settling on “one”.
I find meme's interesting.
Do they hold potential with impetus to “yangily” impose itself upon circumstance.
Might a meme have 2 sides, both available for expression.
How real are they ?.
String theory and beyond prevailing in physics and the establishment seem reluctant to grasp this phenomena.
There must be countless faceted focuses in which to engage.
Jess, is it really nessecary to think locally or globally ?.
Cant we think without bounds ?
These words are strange creatures where the more they abound, the tighter the strangle hold they impose upon what they are intended to lavish. Maybe, a bit like suffocating what they aspired to breathe life into.
Tending to exclusivity rather than inclusiveness.
In any case, they are all we have to offer each other in our interfacing of personas.
Comforting embraces and the warmth of anothers aura.
Many blessings to all fellow Gaians, love and best wishes.
ps. I feel your idea is a benificial contribution to this community Jess.
I remember, one time saying to myself when i was young, “life, she is the god-damndest lover”.

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wow you guys do nothing but help others !its almost kindove creeepy really creepie

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Help is well taken.  Thanks!!!  You are listened to here and you do make a difference.  Keep up the good works.

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I make a difference in the world by refusing to think that it needs to be different.  I focus instead on doing the next right thing.  I share these next right things with others.  I help them to see what and where their next right things might be.  I put forward with so much energy going out to the idea that life sucks and we need it to be different is actually growing and creating the very things we'd appear to be wishing to have less of. 

By bringing focus back to the individual's inside, each person can learn and function in a manner that keeps our own streets clean.  As this occurs the circle widens and spreads.  Naturally on its own! :)

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Perfectly stated AriesSoulgardenCollective. 

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Thank you for this thread. Thank you because recently I have found myself to be very unbalanced and naturally very unhappy and depressed about it. A year ago I would have self-confindently come up with a long list on how I make a difference. Two months ago I might have been able to list many occasions in which I have probably had a negative impact on my surroundings and even now I am very aware of the fact that I have and am sending out a lot of bad vibes to people around me.

However, I do hope that I still manage to make a difference, even if just a small one. Somewhere, in someone's life and thus also, somewhere, in this universe.

For once, my work is certainly supposed to make a difference and I think we're doing pretty well in terms of assisting the marginalized, poverty-stricken, conflict- and disaster-affected both short-termedly with providing relief as well as by implementing long-term development projects.

Personally, I have always enjoyed the company of kids and even though I can be quite strict sometimes, kids enjoy my company, too. I really hope that over the years, I have left some trace, even if it's just the smallest, tiniest one, in the life of those dozens of kids I have babysat, au-pair-ed and worked with.
Also, I hope that I have been able to make a difference in the lives of the immigrants I have been “working” with throughout my life, maybe only by being the first “white” or German person they have been in touch with and felt close to.

And I also think that small gestures of kindness can sometimes make people happier than we would ever think. A smile, an open ear to other people's problems or a compliment here and there somtimes is all it takes.