Mindfulness is such a large and yet simple concept. It works on the micro and macro scale.  Being aware of the feelings inside your body; being aware of the feelings across the planet. Looking at how you decide to travel (by foot, bike, automobile, train, plane…) and how that affects your body, as well as how it impacts the planet… or looking at how you decide to vote (whether you do at all, whether you CAN at all, whether your party has a runner in your riding…) how that impacts your thinking, and also how it might change your Country.

Mindfulness is more than just your own self interest. Intention never ends at your front door. Our actions are carried further and farther than we ourselves can realize.

We are all interconnected and the decisions we make, the thoughts we have, go out into the world as intentions and create the reality that we all share.

I just watched a documentary that described it like a breath, one single lungful of air. The Argon we take in with each breath, and then expel, can be calculated as traveling the planet. The particles have been around since long before Julius Caesar’s last breath and Nelson Mandela’s first breath. We have shared our lungfuls of air with all the great minds and all the starving children.  We are interconnected in ways science is only just now being able to explain.

So then we ask ourselves, what is the power of one? If you think you can’t make a difference, that the problems are too big, and what can you, just one person, possibly do to change anything? (a sentiment I have often felt myself) then I have these words of greatness to share from Desmond Tutu  “The sea is really only drops of water that have come together.”

What can you do?  Start. Start today. Start now. Do what makes your heart sing. Do what you feel passionate about. Share your gift and your love with the world. Ask what joy you can bring to those around you. Be aware of the needs of those around you. We are built from the ground up as a species to live in community. What does your community need and where can you fill those needs?  Is it serving at a soup kitchen? Is it performing street art? Is it volunteering to shovel drive-ways and walk-ways in the winter? Is it participating in a summit on women’s issues? Is it taking to the streets to join a march to change the thinking of others? Is it donating snacks to a lunch program at your local elementary school? Is it writing a blog to get the word out there that you, too, can make a difference, if only you start?

Whatever it is you choose, be Mindful of how your body and your surroundings respond to your actions. Check in and see how you feel.  Change takes time, but it can only happen if you take the first step. After all, “A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.” — Lao-tzu

While you’re at it, I invite you to take a moment to check out the 2011 documentary I AM. Here’s the trailer, see if your interest isn’t piqued: