The Ripple Effect
I’m home today recovering from a nasty sinus infection (among other things) and finally felt good enough to watch some inspirational/motivational things on YouTube. The idea of having a destiny or purpose came up in one of the segments.
So many spiritual leaders and coaches talk about each of us having a grand purpose that no one else can claim or tackle. They make it sound like you must know what the big, important purpose is and how to walk with it into YOUR future. And they make it sound like you’re missing out on your whole life if you don’t know that THAT PURPOSE is.
I’ve pondered this concept long and hard … almost to the point of it making me crazy, angry, depressed, and more … because I couldn’t figure out what MY destiny or purpose was. I first encountered all the “purpose” talk about 10 years ago. I’d recently divorced an alcoholic husband after almost 25 years of marriage and having a life driven by one’s purpose was the hot topic of conversation almost everywhere. So I set off to find MY purpose.
But that wasn’t so easy. You see, most of us are not here to create big, bold, nationally recognized businesses or names. Most of us are here to simply be “the light” … wherever we happen to be sitting or standing at THAT moment in time. And yet many of us miss the opportunity to be the light in our workplace because we’re looking for that grand adventure of our “purpose”. We miss being the light in our family because so many teachers say, “there has to be more”. We miss being the light for the clerk at the store who simply needs a smile and a kind word because we’re looking for a bigger opportunity to be seen and heard.
I’ve come to realize that for most of us, our purpose is to be the light that starts the ripple … never knowing how far the ripple might travel. Do you know what I mean?
When you drop a pebble into a body of water, it creates a ripples that expand outwardly across the water. Sometimes ripples are joined to other ripples (like during a rain shower) and momentum builds. I believe this is what we are here on Earth to do … be the pebble that creates a ripple effect. Our purpose doesn’t have to be big or grand … although it might be. And our purpose changes depending on the stage of our life. I’m almost 60 and what I can do in my life now is very different than what I did when I first got out of school. The people I talk to now are not the same people I reached when my children were little or when they were teenagers. This means my circle of influence changes as I change.
Some of the things that are important to me are evident by what I share here on my website: holistic health, community wellness, chemical free living, essential oils, law of attraction, spiritual laws, mindfulness, and so much more. But that’s not everything that’s important to me … some things are meant to be shared only with family … and that is also part of your purpose … the legacy or history of one’s family.
What message do you feel the world needs to hear? Remember, the message is best received when shared in love. How can you share that message … right where you are … in THIS moment? What ripple can you start … never knowing where it might end or how many it will touch? Those things don’t really matter. All that matters is that you be yourself in this moment in time and let the ripples do their thing as they expand across the surface of the Earth.
