Small Movement and Large Impact

“In a gentle way, you can shake the world.” ― Mahatma Gandhi

There are many different ways it can be said. Poems of eloquent oration speak from the heart of its meaning. The written word from scriptures bear centuries old beliefs in its powerful truth. Many a performer has sung its praises and quotes from the wise speak to reinforce it.

What I speak of is, "the peace that you give, will be given unto you."

It is an old belief that when you give of yourself to others, when you make things better for them, you will receive much more in return. Very simplistic some would say. Simple can be very powerful in the bigger picture of life.

As you go through life, the big things are clear most times. They are well defined with a lot of well documented results. Yet it is the small things in life when added together outweigh all of the big things.

Your impact upon others in little increments ultimately add up into a large impact.

Think of small bad things in life, the ones you fail to act upon. Little things slowly collecting until they create a huge collapse. You have seen it happen to others and you have seen it occur in your own life.

Well the opposite can happen in positive moments and touches upon the lives of others. The small things add up over time into large ones. You serve in goodness to those around you, being a positive force upon others.

Change is gradual but watch as it grows.

In time you will see your life change for the better. Others will begin to act in a positive way upon your own life. Yes, the peace you bring to others will be brought upon you.

All you need to do is be the one to create a small movement.

Stay inspired my friends.

Colliding Worlds

"Collide: To strike or dash against each other; to come into collision; to clash; as, the vessels collided; their interests collided."

There are many different ways we come in contact with other people.

It could be at a grocery store, gas station, work or on the street in front of your home.

These collisions of human interaction can be great and wonderful experiences. Both people can come away with a greater view of the world around them. Each may have found a new friend or learned a new lesson to guide them further in life.

Other collisions can have tragic consequences. A misunderstanding of another persons intentions or a supposed slight. Any of these can have horrible outcomes. A serious argument, fight or worse can change the lives of two people forever.

Not only do these collisions impact the two involved. They also have a cascading effect on those near and those far from the actual collision.

These collisions can also have a positive effect if we make the right choices.

It doesn't have to end in each person losing something.

When we seem close to colliding with another, try to think what type of outcome you want. Will your interaction result in something horrible happening or will something great come from it?

Don't allow any one of these daily collisions to adversely effect your life. Create something greater from it. If that can't happen, then maybe its best just to avoid the collision if possible.

Stay inspired my friends!

Lasting Impact

For all are friends in heaven, all faithful friends;
And many friendships in the days of time
Begun, are lasting here, and growing still.
- Robert Pollok, Course of Time

There are days I reminisce about old friends and one particular friend from Nebraska came to mind. He is a good friend even though we rarely see or even get to speak to one another. Doc Watson is his name and we go way back having first met on the job when I worked several years ago in the Dakota Territory, also known as North Dakota and South Dakota. Like myself, he has gone through some difficult situations but has emerged on the other side of an open door that I have spoken about before.

What had me thinking of him recently is the upcoming wedding day of my daughter. With all of the pending preparation, there is a little bit of stress involved making sure all is ready.

A few years back, I had gone through the same thing with another daughter's wedding. As I am inclined to do, I simply asked my mother for patience. Even though she has already passed away, I talk to her from time to time. It was a moment that I needed some comfort and Doc's name came to my mind.

The reason he came to mind is that he attended my mother's funeral. He had very comforting and encouraging words during that difficult time. It was exactly what I needed during the time. So thinking about him, that feeling came back over me and all was well and calmed my concerns for the pending wedding later this month.

Even though he doesn't realize it, he helped me out that day and today.

Sometimes we find those that have gone from us, the memories remain and continue to impact our lives. We also find that people we know here and today, while far away, can have an impact on our lives. That is what your life is all about, being able to make someone elses life better.

You may not be there to see it happen, but it does.

Do something good for someone and it can have a lasting impact.

Stay inspired my friends!

Five People

"It is because the human spirit knows, deep down, that all lives intersect. That death doesn't just take someone, it misses someone else, and in the small distance between being taken and being missed, lives are changed." - The Five People You Meet In Heaven

Every thing you do in life has an impact on others around you. The little things you do to offer hope or kindness add up in the lives of other people. You do matter, you do make a difference.

Some time back I wrote about a book that Mitch Albom wrote. The story dealt with the seemingly ordinary life of a man named Eddie. The name of his story is titled, The Five People You Meet in Heaven. In fact, a TV movie was created that nicely visualized the story of how each of our lives is intertwined with others. The movie appeared on originally aired on television and was very faithful to the book.

I recommend you read the book or rent the movie and watch it. And even though the book and movie came out ten years ago, it is good to remind ourselves once in a while. It can change the way you view your life. It reveals that there is a light inside each of us. This light shines out from you in ways we never fully realize.

Allow yourself the ability to impact others. Let your interactions with those around you to be positive ones when possible. Your life matters to others, it has impact on them and does so in the little things you do.

Stay inspired my friends!

Blink of an Eye

"What greater thing is there for two human souls than to feel that they are joined... to strengthen each other... to be one with each other in silent unspeakable memories." ~George Eliot

Two people unconnected by any thing in common cross paths one day. They see each other, they might acknowledge each other, they might even talk. They might just pass, but they see each other. There it was, a connection that takes place in the blink of any eye.

It is a connection which is instantly a good or a bad one.

It is a connection which creates a memory in each person.

Change occurs in that moment for both people. It is a change that can have a lifetime impact on the other. And whether we intend it to or not, the connection creates a memory. But what kind of memory are you leaving for others?

I have always tried to make the outcome of this connection a good one. I am not always successful at it. Such is life, but the point being that the memory we each have of the event creates an impression. It might be a pleasing one; it might be a not so good one. Yet we each individually play a part in what it will look like.

We can either create a great memory or allow it to be a bad one. Sometimes you will try and it just comes out all wrong. The reality is that you have the ability to effect what the memory will look like. Your impact, how you look, respond and talk to other people will greatly affect the connected memory.

Make the memory a wonderful connection; one that will bring something greater into another person's life and yours.

Stay inspired my friends.

Your Windmill Effect

"Your spirit is like the wind; you can not see it but you can see where it has been." -Unknown

So many people have so many different characteristics and ways about them. There are the funny, always have a joke for you type of people. There are the serious and very business kind that march in a very definite manner. We even know some of the downtrodden, "woe is me" people in life that only the bad things in life happen to them. The opposite exist as well, the ever upbeat person that never lets anything bother them type of person.

Whatever type you are, each of us has a spirit about us that can not be seen.

It is the "something" about us that others have felt after an encounter. Think of the last time you spent around one of these types of people. Did you feel "downtrodden" or "upbeat" after the encounter? Maybe you came away with needing to be more serious about life or maybe not so seriously?

But we will be impacted by everything that happens around us.

The spirit or nature of another person will have touched us and left its mark in our life. How you conduct your life, how you express yourself; your spirit will come through and leave its mark as well upon others. While it is said that only you can determine your own attitude, which is true. You can be influenced by others and their attitudes.

You can also influence others with your attitude...with your spirit.

Think about what your true spirit is and look behind to see what is left in your wake. Same as the wind blows through a windmill, we do not see the wind. What we do see is the effect it had upon the windmill. Our spirit will go unseen, but how it affects others can be seen. Understand what your spirit is and have a positive effect upon others.

Stay inspired my friends!

Lives Impacted

“A life is not important except in the impact it has on other lives.” ―Jackie Robinson

There have been so many great Facebook stories posted this week about the impact Belinda Creath had on people.

And others similar to this one.

There are others that have written so much. So many people, so many lives impacted, it warms my heart to know that others were touched by the life of Belinda Creath because my life is better.

Impact the lives of others in a good way, in a grand way and stay inspired my friends.

Smile for Life

“Smile at each other, smile at your wife, smile at your husband, smile at your children, smile at each other -- it doesn't matter who it is -- and that will help you to grow up in greater love for each other.” -Mother Teresa

This week, my wife is in Ecuador on a mission trip. She and a group of folks from the C3 School of Ministry here in Lawrenceville, Georgia are impacting the lives of people in need. It is a trip of importance in the lives of those being helped and in the lives of those on the trip. Doing great things for others is a two-way experience.

Yes, most mission trips bring help to those in need including clothing, medical, education and other forms of assistance. My wife is part of that effort but she also brings her smile. A wonderfully conforting and encouraging smile that lets you know everything is going to be just fine.

I have spoken of seeing her smile for the first time in my book Love Is. It is the same smile that I remember seeing on the face of my grandfather as he waved goodbye for the last time. They are smiles that wrap a genuine peace around your heart and soul.

All of us can bring a smile into the lives of others close to us and to those that we meet each day. We can smile in Cuenca, Ecuador and we can smile in Lawrenceville, Georgia; in either place it has an impact. So smile and change someone's day, week or life.

Stay inspired my friends.

Impact Globally By Impacting Locally

"It's stunning to me what kind of an impact even one person can have if they have the right passion, perspective and are able to align the interest of a great team." -Steve Case

Have you ever stopped to consider the impact you have on others? Stopped and really thought how your words and actions can change lives?

It happens each and every day you get up from your bed. The way you tell your wife and children good morning can set the tone for their day. It can set the tone for your day. The way in which you interact with people that come in and out of your day impacts them and you in subtle and not so subtle ways.

Impacting people globally

The idea of how we can have a positive effect upon others came up in a recent conversation. I was being asked about two people my wife and I know. These two people, Dave and Annie, are moving to Brazil in order to greatly change the lives of people in that part of the world.

Both of these people are young retirees from the normal everyday jobs that all of us take on in life. It wasn't a lottery winning that prompted them but opportunity for change. They grabbed at this change which now places them on a path to have a huge impact in Curitiba, Brazil and many other parts of Brazil. It is a global reach beyond our own doorsteps here in Atlanta.

The Jewish Rabbi, Harold Kushner is quoted as saying, "Caring about others, running the risk of feeling, and leaving an impact on people, brings happiness." It is my belief that doing these things simply provides us with the side benefit of happiness. Not only happiness for ourselves but also for those we touched. Reaching out beyond your own door and into the lives of others is what creates a great life.

Impacting people locally

So going back to the discussion I was having, this person questioned the impact oneself could have. The global impact Dave and Annie are going to have is something they could not fathom in themself. It reminded me of a phrase I have heard in various forms most of my life. "Where ever you are, there you are. So it is, you can have an impact anywhere you are."

You see the location of where Dave and Annie are going to be is but one small part of the world. Where they are going to be is where they will be impacting lives. The same can be true right here in Atlanta, down the street at the grocery store, at work, and even in your own home. "Where you are is where you can have impact on others."

Impacting people collectively

I was asked why do we call it a global impact then? How is it that what I do locally here have an impact around the world? The answer comes in the ripples of life that connect all of us. I have written of this before in how your life touches others in ways you may never realize.

The ripple of a stone dropped in the water creates a wave that washes a sea shell upon the shore to brighten a childs day when found. That child is filled with excitement and wonderment. The child is spurred to discover more about the ocean, becoming a famous marine biologist such as Jacques-Yves Cousteau.

Your impact here, locally, becomes a part of the collective wave around the world. Your impact ripples to points that will touch the ripples created by Dave and Annie. It is the collective nature of these waves that have a global impact. That is how we have a global impact when we impact people locally.

So keep doing good things locally, wherever it is that you are...for that is where you impact globally. Stay inspired my friends.

Be the Difference

"Act as if what you do makes a difference. It does." -William James

My message to you today is what William James says so succinctly. You do make a difference. You can get up, go out into the world and change people's lives for the better. There is no one stopping you from doing this. It starts with you making the decision that all possibility exists. You then start movement in your world to do it.

Very few people have that one huge idea that comes to life and immediately impacts huge numbers of people. What happens is that it starts small, like a seed beginning to germinate. A rose bush can be grown from seed, but it takes time. It takes roughly two years for a rose seed to germinate into a seedling that can be replanted for growth. It takes time to nurture and grow what will be a great thing.

For you, it means starting with the simple gestures of kindness to those you come in contact with. It means being a better person to your family, your friends and to those you do not even know. This develops your character such that it becomes a natural thing that you do. It becomes a part of your everyday behavior.

Your idea starts small, you begin serving meals at the homeless shelter and over time it grows into a community outreach that impacts thousands of lives. Your small thought starts by teaching computer skills to single Moms or single Dads. Teaching them skills that will better their lives and give them the ability to succeed. This idea grows into an organization backed by large corporations wanting to help you change lives.

It starts by writing a blog that inspires people to do great things in life. As you notice, it all begins with one and multiplies to many. Your impact may seem small, but it becomes huge over time.

Be a person of impact, whether it be on one person or a million. You can make all the difference.

Labor Day

"If all the cars in the United States were placed end to end, it would probably be Labor Day Weekend." -Doug Larson

It would be a close second to the day after Thanksgiving, which is why many prefer not being out in it. To see the constant stream of traffic, bumper-to-bumper with lots of frustration. It can make you wonder why anyone would enjoy placing themselves in that condition.

But then I begin to understand that placing yourself among others is a way of placing yourself in the path of opportunity. Opportunity to meet new people. Opportunity to find new ideas. Opportunity to set an example of goodness in front of others.

The crowded streets and packed stores can be both frustrating and exhilarating. All you have to do is set yourself in a proper mind set. To be prepared for the inevitable slow traffic, the long lines and the frantic pace of it all. But also be prepared for meeting new people, of spreading a little smile here and there.

The possibilities that exist when you place yourself in the middle of it are endless. A new friend, a new partner, a new business associate, or a new direction are out there waiting for you. People changing your life. You changing people's lives. Together all of us changing life.

Enjoy your Labor Day holiday here in the United States. Enjoy the crowds. Enjoy your life.

Holiday Loneliness Change

"No my friend, darkness is not everywhere, for here and there I find faces illuminated from within; paper lanterns among the dark trees." -Carol Borges

During the holidays, loneliness can be a very oppressive feeling for people. Be it circumstance, due to death of a close one or miles of separation; the feeling is real and hard to cope with.

“There’s so much hype for this wonderful time of togetherness,” said Elaine Rodino, Ph.D., a clinical psychologist in Santa Monica, Calif., “that it accentuates the feeling of being alone and disconnected.” And even more, “Many people try to make the holidays be more than what they are,” said Craig Ellison, Ph.D., “They invest in them heavily, thinking they’ll make up for the other 364 days of the year,” he said.

How to cope or how to change these feelings? No easy answers but the following items may help you. It comes from the About.Com, written by Elizabeth Scott.

- Be Good To Yourself
This can not completely rid those feelings of loneliness, but taking special care of yourself can help you to feel better and enjoy your solitude more. Take the time to do things that will enhance your self esteem. Give your self good level of fun that can help lift your spirits.

- Understand That You’re Not Alone
While you may be feeling alone in your life right now, knowing that the holidays can be a lonely time for many people may help you to feel less so. While it may be uncomfortable to feel lonely, it’s also okay to feel this way.

- Rethink Your Expectations
Part of why holidays feel more lonely for many people is that our society has high expectations for this time of year. The absence of Realize that few people’s lifestyles truly measure up to “movie standards” of perfect living, and shift your focus to all the great things you do have in your life.

- Get Connected
It is possible to feel lonely when surrounded by people, but it’s harder to feel lonely when you’re reaching out to them. Whether you’re saying hello to neighbors you’re usually too rushed to acknowledge, exchanging friendly words with people at the office, or picking up the phone and calling an old friend you haven’t spoken to in a while, reaching out to people and strengthening bonds can help you feel more connected and less lonely.

- Give To Others
One excellent way to feel less lonely during the holidays is to donate your time to a cause you believe in. Helping others who are less fortunate than you can fill you with feelings of love and pride, and even connect you with others who share your passion. You’ll be part of something larger than yourself, and you’ll be immersing yourself in the true spirit of the holiday season.

- Examine Your Feelings
This one probably won’t make you feel better immediately, but if you feel lonely much of the time, this may be a cue that some changes are in order for the coming year. You may want to examine what’s behind your feelings of loneliness. Would you benefit from putting more time into your social life so that you have stronger relationships? Is something inside of you causing you to keep people a t a distance? If you’d like to deepen your friendships, it can cost a little extra time and energy, but the payoff is having increased support and feelings of being heard and understood. Making time for friends, truly listening when your friends talk, and being there for them are all ways to build supportive friendships.

There are many great articles for you to read but it all comes from within. Change and movement will give you a path to embark upon. It will take you away from the loneliness towards something more for your life. For others, sharing a smile or a friendly conversation can be just the thing that person needs. Know that everyone you touch may be in just this type of situation. Extending a small amount of kindness can be the key to setting them on a better path.

Greet the holidays with kindness and greet those around you. Impact the lives of others and your life will be impacted as well.

You Influence Others

Have you ever thought about what type of influence you have on people around you? Or are you the type of person that simply attempts to go about your daily life not wanting to interact with others. Such as a quote goes, "If anything is certain, it is that change is certain. The world we are planning for today will not exist in this form tomorrow." (Philip Crosby)

Even as you try to not involve yourself, as you try to live a quiet and uninterrupted life, you still impact people that pass in and out of your daily life. Your influence can be that of Ebenezer Scrooge before his self revelation. Or you can be that person that saw life for what it was, a gift to be shared with others. In this well known Christmas tale of change and easing of a hard heart, both the old and new Ebenezer impacted others with his attitude.

Your own attitudes and thoughts can effect those around you. I have seen those that simply trudge along. There always seems to be that look upon their face that says "when will this all be over", a sad way to live in my mind. Each of us have been given a gift to share with others. Of course there will be tough times and a certain amount of bad things that happen. But life is that way, it isn't perfect.

Change your life, you attitude and impact in a positive way those around you. That goodness will be reflected back upon you in ways you won't expect. Be a person of change, be a person of impact.