7 tips on changing the world from mahatma gandi’s quotes

Mahatma Gandhi is the man who lead the Indian people to independence from British rule in 1947. Here are a few lessons from some quotes by Mahatma Gandhi.

1. Change yourself.

“You must be the change you want to see in the world.”

“As human beings, our greatness lies not so much in being able to remake the world – that is the myth of the atomic age – as in being able to remake ourselves.”

If you change yourself you will change your world. If you change how you think then you will change how you feel and what actions you take. And so the world around you will change. Not only because you are now viewing your environment through new lenses of thoughts and emotions but also because the change within can allow you to take action in ways you would not have. The problem with changing your outer world without changing yourself is that you will still be you when you reach that change you have strived for.

2. You are in control.

“Nobody can hurt me without my permission.”

What you feel and how you react to something is always up to you. There may be a common way to react to different things. You can choose your own thoughts, reactions and emotions to pretty much everything and you do not have to overreact or react in a negative way. No one outside of yourself can actually control how you feel so you can start develop it as a thought habit. Doing this makes life a whole lot easier and more pleasurable.

3. Forgive and let it go.

“The weak can never forgive. Forgiveness is the attribute of the strong.”

“An eye for eye only ends up making the whole world blind.”

Fighting evil with evil would not help anyone. You realize that forgiving and letting go of the past will do you and the people in your world a great service. Spending your time in some negative memory would not help you after you have learned the lessons you can learn from that experience.  If you do not forgive then you let the past and another person to control how you feel. By forgiving, you release yourself from bondage.

4. Without action you are not going anywhere.

“An ounce of practice is worth more than tons of preaching.”

Without taking action very little will be done. However, taking action can be hard and difficult. To really get where you want to go and to really understand yourself and your world you need to practice. Books can mostly just bring you knowledge. You have to take action and translate that knowledge into results and understanding.

5. Everyone is human.

“I claim to be a simple individual liable to err like any other fellow mortal. I own, however, that I have humility enough to confess my errors and to retrace my steps.”

“It is unwise to be too sure of one’s own wisdom. It is healthy to be reminded that the strongest might weaken and the wisest might err.”

When you start to make myths out of people even though they may have produced extraordinary results and you run the risk of becoming disconnected from them. You can start to feel like you could never achieve similar things that they did because they are so very different. So it’s important to keep in mind that everyone is just a human being no matter who they are. It is also important to remember that we are all human and prone to make mistakes. Holding people to unreasonable standards will only create more unnecessary conflicts in your world and negativity within you.

“First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, then you win.”

Be persistent. In time the opposition around you will fade and fall away. Find what you really like to do and then you will find the inner motivation to keep going. One reason Gandhi was so successful with his method of non-violence was because he and his followers were so persistent. They did not give up. Success may not come as quickly as you would have liked it to. One reason people do not get what they want is simply because they give up too soon. Just keep at it and it will come to you.

7. See the good in people and help them.

“I look only to the good qualities of men. Not being faultless myself, I won’t presume to probe into the faults of others.”

“Man becomes great exactly in the degree in which he works for the welfare of his fellow-men.”

There is always something good in people and even if things that may not be so good, you can choose what things to focus on. If you want improvement then focusing on the good in people is a useful choice. It also makes life easier for you as your world and relationships become more pleasant and positive. When you see the good in people, it becomes easier to motivate yourself to be of service to them. By being of service to other people, by giving them value you not only make their lives better.