This morning I logged in online to pay my electricity bill online and got a shock. Sure, it’s winter but the charges were way too high even for the seasonal change. And then I realized that I’d signed up for a green energy company as my energy supplier who had lured me in with a great introductory rate but over the last many months, had nearly doubled their rates compared with the other suppliers in my area. While I was proud of making that change to green energy when I signed up, I realized that living green isn’t just economically viable for most people.

I can’t afford a Tesla. Even if I could, I’ve realized the total carbon footprint is what really matters.  I could be driving a fully electric car but I could be charging it using conventional energy sources. Or I could be adding to greenhouse gas emissions at a much faster rate than others if I don’t balance my lifestyle. For the record, my biggest offense as an environment polluter is the extent of air travel I’m doing, says the carbon footprint calculator that I like and use.

In the last two months, we’ve had major hurricanes in the US that have been alarming. The situation other than the weather is none too promising. Three shootings in the country and of course, the endless accounts of resistance movements against the political decisions and dispositions. Harsh criticism and hatred being spewed all over, no matter which side or viewpoint one endorses.

Why are our lives so messed up and what can I do about it? More specifically, even if I have the good will to donate my time and money towards solving the problems, where do I start and how do I justify one cause versus another? Are my efforts going to be enough and will they be complemented adequately by others so we can actually make an impact in reducing and solving the major problems facing this world?

Then I reminded myself that I’m already on the path to helping people change themselves from the inside. Subject to their free will, of course. That means that a lot of people won’t even care if I tell them that they have to get on the journey of their individual self-improvement by seeking a higher purpose in their lives – through Self-Realization and Self-Actualization.

But that’s okay because there will be a time in everyone’s lives when the need dawns upon them, As long as we’re nurturing the avenues for seekers of higher purpose, they’ll turn to these at that time.

And seeking higher purpose through a vehicle like Sahaja is not about confining yourself to the Himalayas, away from the maddening world. It’s improving ourselves by being at the center of everything and building resilience, fortitude and peace despite everything. It means we have access to this innate power within ourselves to keep changing the core of our beings during our lifetimes.

Specifically, that means at least three important things:

• Flushing out negative thoughts, emotions and any obstacles inside our subtle energy system.
• Holistically healing ourselves physically, mentally, emotionally and spiritually.
• Working gradually on our character and personality traits to effect a change in our behaviors.

Along this journey of self-improvement, it’s also possible to help others get on a similar journey, but not by convincing or coercing, but showing them their own potential that they can tap into.

So what can happen in our practical day to day lives as more and more people begin to meditate and get on the journey of self-improvement?

1. We stop frittering our attention on random efforts to change the world, instead, we work on the root cause of all problems – us.
2. We work on the root cause of our negative emotions – hatred, fear, greed, anger and so on – giving people and their future generations a way of conquering them. No, not by suppressing these, but by healing them innately so such emotions rarely arise.
3. We make people a lot more patient, compassionate and understanding – about themselves and about others.
4. We help them re-establish their bonds with families, friends, and colleagues by making them pleasing personalities and making their communication mellifluous.
5. We help them make forgiveness almost their second nature – think of the number of problems in this world that would go away, if the majority of us were to just let go and move on.
6. We make them masters of themselves – mature, intelligent and disciplined – so no one needs to tell them what to do, not even us.
7. We give them the power of creativity and help them break out of the complex bind the world and we have gotten ourselves into.
8. Finally, we make them honest and wise people that no matter what, they won’t compromise on their fundamentally good values in life.

That seems like a tall order and especially when we’re banking on people changing themselves. No, we’re not on the mission to change people, we’re on the path of getting them to realize who they are and what they need to do. Granted, this is going to take several decades or even a century, but there are no other shortcuts or band-aid solutions.

If bad and immature decisions by the human civilization in the last 100 years have brought upon us so many problems and complexities, the only way they’re going to rectify them is by enabling them to correct those mistakes on their own and make the right decisions going forward, bit by bit.

According to ancient Eastern spirituality that talks about the cycle of ages and time periods, we’re experiencing the lows of the human civilization in the current times. This means that things are going to look up from here and we’ll be entering the golden age soon. Or in fact, may already be beginning to enter that age right now. In this age, there will be truth and goodness all around us. So much so that people will forget the need for any kind of security in their lives.

That’s the Sahaja vision. That peaceful and responsible person will eventually outnumber everyone else.

Now coming back to where I started this entire discussion, peaceful and responsible people innately develop respect for Mother Nature and Mother Earth and work consciously towards reducing their sum total carbon footprint. At least, that’s what I’m doing right now.

Somehow it feels good that I can spend more time taking action on arresting climate change than hearing, watching and reading the climate change debates, views and criticisms for hours. Or expecting politicians to do something about it. And I don’t have to be able to afford a fancy Tesla or the expensive green energy company for this so long as I have a lifetime plan to keep reducing my overall carbon footprint, quietly and peacefully sitting at home.