Simple Ways You Can Change the World

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Hey, welcome to Stillness in the Storms podcast. I'm Steven Webb, your host, and I help you to have some

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inner peace when you need it most and you have it least. On today's podcast, we're talking about what's important

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in life and how we can make a difference. Very often with everything that's going on in the world, with

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politics and with natural disasters and things like that, we really get into this rut of what can I do?

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There's nothing I can do. There's no point. So we end up feeling like we're useless. Feeling like, what's the

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point? So we go into this place of nihilism that just makes us feel that we're not capable of making

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a change in the world, not capable of doing anything. And when you talk about people that when they're nearly

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at the end of their lives and you ask them what's important to them, and they ask questions like, did

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I love well? Was I kind? How will I be remembered? Did I leave the planet in a better way

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than it was before?

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And it's those kind of questions that I want to answer on today's podcast. The big thing with this is

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it doesn't have to be grand gestures. I was, I woke up in the night the other night with the

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cat jumping around making lots of noise and it was about two o'clock in the morning and I turned the

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light on and the cat would freeze. And I would go back to try to go back to sleep, turn

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the light off. And then about a half an hour later, I would hear the cat jumping around again. I

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would turn the light on and the cat would like sit down, do nothing. And then I seen a little

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something black just run across the floor. And I clicked. The cat had brought in a mouse. Now I don't

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know whether she was trying to do something to it or play with it or I I don't know. So

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I called my carer down, Beth come down and I explained to Beth there's a mouse in here somewhere. And

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she started to move everything out the way and we eventually found it in behind the computer and we put

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it into a bowl. I say we, I lied in bed because I'm paralysed so. So she was on her

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own with this. The only thing I could do is kind of tell her if I seen it. So we

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put the cat out the way. We eventually found it behind the computer and she put it into plastic container.

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So she went up in the kitchen. I wonder what she'd done with it. And it's about 20 minutes. Then

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she come back down to me and she said, well mom I think the mouse will be okay. And I

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said, okay, what do you do? She goes, well, I've given it some water and it drunk quite a bit.

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I put some sugar in the water to help it with any shock that it may have. And it drunk

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it out the spoon three times. Took it up the end of the road and I just let her out

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and I watched it while it ran away underneath the bush. But no, that's the way we make the world

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a little better. By doing little acts of kindness like that. That act alone has improved universe

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It doesn't have to be a great big granddad And you think about that mouse. What difference is made to

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that mouse? Okay, we don't know what happened to it next and we could go into a story of that.

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But let's just focus on what was done and what we do know. And what we do know is the

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mouse did not suffer anymore that night. Thank you, Mitzi. But please don't bring in any more mice. I don't

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know why I'm telling her. She doesn't even listen to the podcast. The problem is we have this huge pressure

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of doing something grand, doing something huge. And we really don't have to do anything huge.

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Just those little things again and again and again makes a big difference. And I've got another carer, Kate, and

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we were out walking the dog one day and there was a bee on the ground. Kate picked it up

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and she put it on a leaf and she put it up on the hedge. So the sun was able

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to warm its wings up and after a little bit it started moving its wings and then it flew off.

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The chances are it got caught in a cold wind or a cold area while it was collecting the pollen

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in order to make honey. I'm not an expert on bees but I think that's what they do. And when

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they get really cold, they can't flap their wings as well. So they end up lying on the floor. Now

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then, the best case scenarios in that that the sun finds them and allows them to fly back the next

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day or... But very often they'll land and people will think they're dead or... That bee got a new lease

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of life and hopefully it flew all the way home. And again, that changed the world. And I'm going to

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share another story. Jack cornfield says about when he was with a teacher one day and he was sitting there

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and a fly was in his tea. And he was sitting there thinking now I'm going to be calm. I'm

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going to allow that fly to... I'm not going to be agitated by it. I'm not going to do anything.

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I'm just going to sit here and allow that fly not to bother me. It's okay. It's just tea. It's

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just a fly. It's just what it is. I need to just... Remain calm. And whether his teacher

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noticed him or something, but his teacher came over to him and said, what's up? What's going on so well

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I've got a fly in my tea, but it's okay. I'm accepting. I'm okay with it. And the teacher put

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his finger in the cup of tea, got the fly out and disappeared out of the room. And they carried

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on doing their chanting and whatever they were doing. And then a little while later he come in really happy.

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Like really, really happy. Well, later that day, Jack cornfield caught up with him and looked up and said, I

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cannot help to be inquisitive, but why did you come back in the room so happy? And he said, well,

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you know that fly? I took him out and I dried him off on the side. And once he was

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dry, we warmed him up and all that. And it just flew away. The fly's going to be fine. And

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this is a good this is a good thing about trying to improve the world as well as trying to

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accept the world. We don't have to accept everything. Just as it is. Buddhism and finding

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inner peace and having stillness is not about, okay, I just accept all the bad things that are happening. No,

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it's about being calm and okay with them happening and knowing what you can do something about. Now then,

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remaining calm is admirable. It's amazing. Well done. You remain calm when your tea could have been potentially ruined.

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However, what a better outcome to save the fly and enjoy your cup of tea? So this is about spiritualism

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is is not just about remaining calm. I'm angry, but I can deal with my anger. You know, I'm sad

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or shamed right at this minute, but I can deal with that. It's not about that. It's not about just

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remaining calm. It's about giving back, improving the world in little ways you can. It could be like

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Tony Robbins does with all the free meals that he he said he was going to give a billion or

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a million free meals or something like that. I think he surpassed it already. Miles surpassed it um So whatever

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you're doing, don't look at those little things as well, what can I do? But you can do many, many

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little things every single day. So it's not about thinking that I've got to do grand gestures and these really

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big, big grand things in order to make the world a better place. You don't. Every single

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kind act makes the world a better place. Every single smile improves the whole universe. Every

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single time you say hello to someone or say, how can I help you? And you just help. Every time

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you read a book to a child or you give your time to someone that is feeling lonely and looking

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for a connection changes the world, changes the whole universe in a better way. So

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yeah, that was a rather shorter podcast today. Nevertheless, it's not less important. It's only these little small acts like

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just doing this podcast. If it resonates with one of you and it helps you to recognise the

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importance of the little things you do so you continue to do them, this podcast is improving the world. So

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thank you for listening. Thank you for sharing. Thank you for reviewing the podcast. And I would love for you

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to support my work if you can. Head over to my website and the link at the top says Patreon.

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If you become one of the patrons, you'll get a shout out on my show. And thank you to Mo,

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my first patron. And hopefully many more will add to you. Just four dollars a month will really make a

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difference. Thank you. Take care. And I will see you next week for the next podcast. Bye.