Impact

I don’t think it would take much to recall the impact people have made on our lives. These impacts could have been positive or could have been negative. For those positive impacts the results were more than likely a tremendous boost to our self esteem, at least that has been my experience. However, for those negative impacts, even when we try to dismiss them from our memory, have probably already taken their toll. 

This entry hopefully will be focused on the notion that the impacts made on our lives and on the lives of others have the power for great good or great despair. As I think back over my childhood and adolescent years while growing up in a quasi religious family environment, it did not occur to me the impact being made on me from outside sources nor the impact that I was making on those around me. 

What I hold up for us all to think about has to do with the power each of us possess and the potential impact this inner power can provide others. The provision our impactful abilities can give will depend upon how one chooses to dispense it. Allow me to offer an example. If I choose to help someone because I want something in return, then the impact potential will be more self-centered. On the other hand, if I choose to aid someone and there are no strings attached to my help then the impact potential comes from love and is communicated innately. Think about it. Have you ever been the recipient of someone’s so called kindness only to discover later that their help was based on their selfishness? 

Now we can think about such scenarios regarding how others treat us. What if we decide to turn the tables to consider the impacts we have on others based upon how we treat them? Much like a stone hitting the surface of a lake or pond, the impact this stone makes causes a ripple effect that will influence everything it touches in every direction. Now if the impact is positive the results will be helpful. But if the impact is negative then the results will more than likely be negative as well. 

You and I have the ability to choose how we are going to impact others. If the motivation is self-centered then the impact will bring much despair. When we are the recipients of someone’s negative impact then we have a decision to make. We can reflect their negative motivation back to them and to others continuing the wave of negativity or we can decide to love and forgive in the face of such destructive impacts. If we choose such a direction then the impact we give will be one of love and light. The choice is yours. I encourage you to choose Love!