It is the late 1990s. I am sitting on the scrubby floor of my bedroom in London, listening to a guided meditation on a CD. Sitting quite peacefully on my cushion, I hear the meditation teacher’s calm voice say:
“There is only this present moment… There is nothing you have to do, nowhere to be apart from right here, right now.”
And my mind immediately protests: “What?! Nothing to do? Are you mad?! Don’t you know that people are starving, children are being abused every day, there is war in the Middle East, the rainforest is dying, and my Finance & Accounting exam is next week? How can you say ‘there is nothing to do’? How can you sit here silently, passively, while all of this is happening? Surely, we have to DO something!”
For a long time, I felt as if I had two opposing sides within me: one that longed for harmony, safety, and joy, and another that saw the suffering in the world, that wanted to take action, to be courageous, to be “out there” fighting for a better world (or at least, to start by studying for my accounting exam). Finding peace in the present moment and my desire for change—my drive to influence the future—seemed irreconcilable.
It was only much later that I realized it is not about stillness or action, not about pleasure or pain—it is both. It is and. It is about seeing nature’s beauty and its destruction. About recognizing humanity’s capacity for both compassion andviolence. It is about cultivating a heart that is open enough to hold both the beauty and the pain of this precious life on Earth.
During meditation, we train our minds to stay present, to notice thoughts and emotions as they arise, and to allow them to be—without resisting or clinging to them—until they pass. Over time, we start to see that, like everything in life, these sensations are temporary. Instead of identifying with them (“I am angry, sad, or happy”), we become the observer (“I am experiencing anger, sadness, or joy”). This subtle shift gives us a new kind of freedom—one that is critical for creating positive impact. It enables us to move from automatic reaction to conscious response.
As changemakers and leaders witnessing the current state of the world, many of us long for both inner peace and outer action. Through the practice of stillness, of becoming aware of the present moment, and of allowing our thoughts and emotions to just be, we learn to process them rather than getting caught in a self-reinforcing fight-or-flight mode. Even the simple act of taking three deep breaths activates our parasympathetic nervous system—the rest-and-digest mode—sending signals to our body (and, consequently, our mind) that we are safe.
It is from this place of safety and connection that new perspectives and different actions can emerge. Suddenly, solutions that once seemed impossible become visible—not just for ourselves, but for the planet.
