Are you playing "small"? Can ONE change the world?...and "Law of Attraction"

Recently I listened to a couple of audios on the subject of the "Law of Attraction".

Like most personal development and life perspective programs, you just have to "chew the meat; spit out the bones" and invest in yourself and your mindset to make it truly worth the time. There's an abundance of good ideas worth pondering.

But the 2 audios stirred up some some big issues with me, first positively, then negatively.

The first audio made quite an impact on me. The only thing I'd argue about was the suggestion that Destiny is only something you choose. Through some dramatic events in my own life, I've come to believe that, through the hand of God, to some extent, Destiny chooses you.

While personal choice and responsibility have much to do with what happens in life, there are some mysterious aspects of Destiny that can't be explained solely by the "Law of Attraction" in a specifically scientific way, at least not with the knowledge science is limited to at this time. Additionally, there are questions about good and evil in the universe that really can only be adequately addressed from a supernatural/spiritual perspective.

The first audio program reminded me of some good ideas and I loved it.... No woo-woo weird stuff (darn it :) . Good practical "common sense" that is hard to find these days.

Then, the other day, I was listening to another audio on the same subject and I loved it too!...until...I heard one of the speakers make some kind of comment about not taking yourself too seriously. "After all, what you're doing probably won't change the world". I was unable to absorb much of the rest
of the content because my brain started on a totally different track...a track worth considering.

To be fair, the comment I was taken aback by was stated in the context of the relative importance of starting an internet-based business. The speaker was addressing most people's understandable fear of making mistakes and the fact that because of that fear, many people simply don't take action at all. They refuse to play "full out" because of their fears.

It is true that we frequently fail to act because of our fears, real or imagined. However, I've come to the conclusion that sometimes we fail to act because we don't realize how important we are. Somehow, we've settled into a belief that our actions might really not matter much, especially when we think our present and potential circle of influence is small or of little influence or importance.

Consider for a moment the lives of William Wilberforce, Joan of Arc, Martin Luther King, Jr., Susan B. Anthony, Nelson Mandela, Mother Theresa, Abraham Lincoln, Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Helen Keller, Churchill, Julia Child, George Washington, Laura Ingalls Wilder and the hundreds of thousands of others who have impacted history and civilization in small and great ways. Some are known. Others affected history in anonymity. Most had a story with modest beginnings.

Imagine if just one of these individuals had the thinking that what they did was of little consequence. Imagine what we would have lost. Imagine how history might have been different without them. Most great things have small beginnings.

There is courage in acknowledging that we were created for greatness, for influence. It's not enough to notice the problems of the world. We are the solution. You are the solution. Be the solution.

"There is no passion to be found playing small - in settling for a life that is less than the one you are capable of living." Nelson Mandela