How One Quote Can Change Your Life
Posted by Arin Vahanian at 8/19/2007 4:37 PM and is filed under uncategorized 
Here is a quote by Mahatma Gandhi that changed my life for the better, changed the way I interact with people, and helped me add good and positive things in my relationships and in the world around me. I have implemented this into my daily life, with amazing results:
"You must be the change you want to see in the world."
I believe that if everyone implemented this belief into their lives, we would have much better relationships, we could significantly reduce crime, violence, and hatred, and we would see many more happy people, who in turn would contribute positively to the world and be a lot more likely to help others around them.
The best way to implement this belief into your life is a three-step process, which I found worked very well for me.
1. For starters, I would like you to repeat that quote several times right now, focusing on each word. Repeat it at normal speed, and really feel what it means to be a beacon of positive change, in your life and in everyone else’s as well.
If it helps, sit or stand in front of a mirror and repeat the quote to yourself, while looking in the mirror. What this will do is reinforce to yourself that you are a person who inspires positive change in others, and will solidify this belief into the core identity of who you are as a person.
2. Write the quote down on a piece of paper or type it out, and post it somewhere where you will see it every day. Posting it on the wall above your desk or on your refrigerator will work very well, as you go to those places every day.
3. Every night before you go to bed, and every morning when you wake up, repeat that quote out loud to yourself twice.
Do this for a period of two weeks, and if you find yourself really acting consistently with that statement, then you can forego this last step, as it has already been implanted into your belief system.
Essentially, every interaction you have with other humans...every discussion you have with your friends or family...every action that you do on a daily basis, should take into consideration that quote.
For example:
Other people are boring, you think? Then YOU be interesting and fun.
Other people have small-town mentalities? YOU have a big-town mentality, full of vibrancy, open-mindedness, and action!
Other people work too much? YOU don't work too much.
Other people are negative? YOU be positive.
Other people are impatient? YOU be patient.
Other people fight and drink? YOU make love.
Other people worry about money? YOU don't worry about money.
With everything you do or even everything you think, ask yourself, "Am I being the change that I want to see in my life, and the world?"
In the beginning, you will have to take a magnifying glass, a microscopic lens to your daily thoughts and actions, and see where you are putting your attention and focus. Otherwise, from my personal experience as well as observing countless others, it's right back to the negativity, chaos, and hatred that dominates many peoples’ lives.
I won’t talk too much about the subconscious mind here (indeed, a topic of such great importance deserves its own discussion, which I will devote some space to in this blog in the near future), but basically, your subconscious mind will do whatever you program it to do, and will believe anything you put in it.
So, for example, if somebody else cuts you off while you are driving, and you say to yourself, “I'll KILL that guy who just cut me off!", it's obvious that you don't actually MEAN it...but your subconscious doesn't know that. It only knows how to follow orders.
So what happens is, that negative statement gets programmed into your mind, without you even realizing it! And what happens after that is you harbor intense negativity and pain, and it gets manifested into your daily life.
If while driving, you do happen to get cut off by another person, you can say or think this instead: "Well, I'm glad I am safe and that the other person is also safe. He must have a very important matter to attend. I know he means no harm, and that could happen to anyone. In any case, I wish him all the best.”
Again, your subconscious mind does not know the different between negative and positive thoughts or statements. It just takes in whatever you give it, and implants beliefs accordingly into your mind.
So why not feed positive, good thoughts to subconscious mind, ones that will make your life, as well other peoples’ lives, joyful, interesting, and good?
It works like this: Garbage in, garbage out. Quality in, quality out!
In conclusion, that quote by Gandhi has single-handedly helped make my belief system and life a lot more positive, improved my relationships and interactions with other people, and created a lot more happiness in my life.
Remember…You must be the change you want to see in the world!
Try implementing this statement into your belief system for a period of one week, and you will see many interesting and fantastic changes take place...
Every where I turn for the past 2 weeks this quote from Gandhi is there. I was in a shop recently and found it on a card. I bought it and now it sits in front of my computer screen where I can read it several times a day.
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Your blog is great, please keep up the good work.
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Awesome article man...The quote is now hardwired in my brain...
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I like this article very much - the usual way we behave is to see a quote , mull over it for a second, then continue as if we never read it. This is a nice reminder to put all the words we read into practise
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A very interesting and enlightening article, thanks. I would just like to add that what I find helps me to recall a quote and to use it in my life is to associate the quote with an image or an action. That way, I find it not only easier to recall but if my mind is 'full of words' the image or action breaks me out of that mindset and recalls the quote.
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I like the way you have described the steps to go through each word and feel the words. Good post !
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I love that quote! It says it all. You should highlight your examples in bold - they were great. I just started my own blog recently and it was for exactly for this reason - to be the change I wanted to see.
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