The Ripple Effect

There is one reason and one reason alone I do the work that I do: to give people ideas to help make their lives better, easier and more joyful. Life is filled with difficulties, frustrations, disappointments and tricky relationships. We can get so focused on “getting through” the tough parts that we forget sometimes to raise our heads and see the beauty and joy around us.

This week I was blessed in a very real way to see how the work I do can actually spread and impact many people with the ripple effect. Brian Kelley, of Milton, MA, had read about me in the Boston Globe when Bella English wrote an article about my book and my work. Brian films for Milton Cablevision, and called to ask if I might be willing to do an interview. You can view this on YouTube. Brian was so inspired by the book that he became an avid practitioner of the ideas.

Each time I met or spoke with Brian, he shared his observations and insights and ways he had found to implement the ideas. That’s such a key – finding ways to take any idea and make it one’s own. We want to integrate it in our own lives and make our own meaning out of it. No one can give us the formula; we have to find our own formula. However, having ideas and mentoring to guide us can be extremely helpful along the way.

This week Brian sent me a video of his church service. It was a lay-led service, so many of the parishioners came up to the pulpit and spoke. I watched the speakers as some of them spoke specifically about the writings in my book and how they had put them into practice in their lives. I was so humbled to see how Brian had taken an article in the Globe, and translated it into so many ways to give the gift of insight to others.

It reminded me again how important it is for each of us to provide ideas and support to our friends, colleagues and family along the way. NOT to tell others what to do, or even to dispense advice, but rather to share our own journey and what we’ve learned. We never know how the ripple effect might work and what other lives might be touched as a result.