The Thoughts I Had as a Child
As a child, I remember being quietly observant. While others were outside playing, I often found myself alone with big questions. I’d lie awake at night thinking about people — about emotions, about the sadness and anger I sensed in adults, and about the things that didn’t make sense to me.
Why were grown-ups so often angry?
Why did they tell children off for things we didn’t understand?
Why did they tell us to be kind while speaking cruelly behind closed doors?
Even then, I knew something didn’t feel right.
A Parenting Moment That Changed Everything
One moment I’ll never forget happened years later, when I became a mother. My daughter was just a toddler, and one day she began colouring on the wall in our first home. I didn’t scold her or raise my voice. I simply said, “Oh no, I’m a bit sad — I painted that wall a lovely colour and it took me a long time. We’re meant to draw on paper, not the wall.”
She looked at me with wide eyes and said, “Oh, sorry mummy, don’t be sad.”
And she never did it again.
It was so simple.
No shame. No fear. Just understanding.
It made me wonder: why do so many adults go straight to punishment? Why is frustration the default? When we pause and connect instead, the response is so different — and so much more effective.
What the World Reflects Back to Us
I think about this often when I hear people complain about governments, world leaders, and people in power. “They’re corrupt.” “They’re dishonest.” “They waste money.” “They pollute the Earth.”
But I believe those systems are just reflections — magnified versions of how we, as individuals, behave every day.
Why Real Change Begins With Us
We criticise politicians for their lack of integrity, but lie to our employers.
We condemn corporate greed, but overconsume.
We want children to be kind and fair, while we gossip, judge, and avoid accountability in our own lives.
It’s all connected.
Small Moments Create Big Shifts
Real change doesn’t begin in politics or policy.
It begins in the smallest moments — how we speak to our children, how we own our mistakes, how we treat others when no one’s watching.
Be the change isn’t just a quote.
It’s a commitment.
To self-awareness.
To alignment.
To doing the hard, beautiful work of showing up with honesty and compassion — especially when it would be easier not to.
Kindness, Integrity, and the Ripple Effect
If we want a kinder world, we have to create kinder homes.
If we want leaders with integrity, we have to live with integrity ourselves.
If we want our children to grow up differently, we have to show them how.
Everything We Do Echoes
… And the smallest choice, made with love, might just be the most powerful change of all.
