Notes

How exactly to Create Change in the World
How do we create change on the planet? Yoga wisdom tells us that people need to start at most basic level. To generate change, begin with a person. What is a lot more basic than a single human being? The stuff we all have been manufactured from: atoms and subatomic particles. "You're what you eat" because the saying goes. But think about our mind? May be the mind also manufactured from atoms? Not exactly...

Physically, we may consist of atoms, but mentally we have been made out of stories. Thus, to generate change, we must change the stories that our minds are constructed with.

What is an atom, by the way? An atom may be the most basic unit of each living and non-living thing. But isn't that yet another story? ...Everything is really a story.

Once you were born, your parents told you the story they were told by their parents, who, in turn, were told by their own parents. This re-telling has been going on since the very beginning of humankind. Yet, who was the original storyteller?

Our teachers, parents, friends, and peers donate to that on-going story. They give us only the description of the world they know - their perception of the world. It could not be the way the world really is. We ourselves contribute to the story of the planet every moment of our existence by thinking and believing in what we've been told.

The stories we tell ourselves form our social and cultural values. T here fore our stories, tales, fables, anecdotes, parables, proverbs, and colloquial expressions will be the backbone, the inspiration, of our society as a whole, and our modern culture on the planet Earth.

Going back few thousand years, the stories that have dominated our consciousness, generally in most modern cultures, will be the stories of mankind's rule on the natural world, of the sense of separateness from nature and from one another, and of our self-gratifying pre-occupation with this ego-mind.

Regardless of how simple and seemingly insignificant, our stories are the real cause of several global social and cultural problems such as war and violence; concern with the natural world and separation from nature; pollution, environmental destruction, and the loss of wildlife habitats; over-consumption and materialism.

Imagine if the majority of our stories were teaching us some virtuous value, or encouraging us toward a confident action.

"Kill two birds with one stone" will be "Feed two birds with one seed."
"It is a dog-eat-dog world" will be "It is a happy-dog-splashing-in-the-pool world."
"Take just as much as you can, before someone else will" would become "Take only the thing you need, leave the others for others".

If our description of the planet as we know it was always based on universal love, compassion, and interconnectedness, what would the world be like?

Nonetheless, our world is the way it is for a reason. We've all done our part in creating it. What matters now will be the stories we tell. If you want to continue seeing abundance with this beautiful planet, some of our stories have to change.

Although it would take some time and effort, we can focus on making this process a journey filled with fun, exploration, learning, and love. We must become more alert to the prevailing stories and re-tell them in a far more positive light. We have to study from the older cultures which have survived modernization and from their stories, along with from countless teachers and seekers who have taken this path of wisdom in the past. We must take time to witness life and nature, and notice the innumerable lessons all around us. We must listen closely to your own hearts as they are, too, our teachers and tell their own unique story.

It is, actually, very real and possible to create change in the world that is filled with love and happiness. It might be our next evolutionary step, to transform to a far more spiritual approach to life, with stories as the vehicle.

Let's begin today. Create change within you. What positive story did you hear today?

Surya Kolpakov, LMT, is a Certified Yoga Therapist. He teaches yoga and meditation around Boston area, loves to share his insights and tell stories concerning the yoga lifestyle, and perform traditional Thai massage. For additional information on the yoga lifestyle, visit Surya's website at
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