Every day, we all have the choice to make the world a little bit better or a little bit worse. If we treat other people well, that makes them feel good and adds a little bit of positivity to everything they do for the rest of that day; treat them poorly and that gives them a bit of negativity that follows them everywhere. Either way, they pass on how they’re feeling to the other people they meet, which then influences their behavior, and so on; eventually, our actions will have impacted people we’ll never meet or even know exist. In short, there is tremendous power in the words we use and the actions we take even if we don’t always see the fruits of our decisions.
Big actions such as buying another person a meal, sitting with them when they need a friend, and helping them through a major struggle do the greatest amount of good. However, small gestures can still make a big difference. Refraining from honking at the slow driver, holding the door for the next person, choosing to be a peacemaker instead of telling someone off, etc. Even something as simple as giving someone a genuine smile can begin to turn their day around. You never know what they’ve been going through and what such a seemingly small gesture will do for them. So even if you don’t undertake some huge project, you can still use small actions to make a difference for other people.
The better we treat ourselves and the more we love ourselves, the easier it is to do random acts of kindness for others. When I’m not taking care of myself as I should, I end up stuck in my thoughts and find it almost impossible to care about anyone else. In contrast, when I’m feeling relaxed and peaceful, I find it easy to remember that those who lash out at others do so because they’re hurting. This helps me empathize with them and makes me want to do something to relieve even a little bit of their pain. I greatly enjoy being in that state of mind and try to abide there as much as possible, though I’m not yet as good at it as I’d like to be. I’ve seen a few people who have spent most of their lives in that state and it’s amazing to see how they live and what they do. What would the world look like if more people lived like that? What would happen if more people loved themselves and others and chose to make things a bit better everywhere they go? I want to find out the answers to those questions and many more like them. How about you?