I had one of those great days yesterday. My morning and afternoon was filled with creativity and peace. I wrote, watched Keeper chase minnows in the water at the park (may be better than meditation), did yoga, and seared a beautiful tuna steak for the lunch Jason and I had together. My evening was filled with laughter. Two girlfriends called and I got to have great conversations with each of them. Caught up a bit and then just laughed and laughed and laughed and then discussed when we’d be able to see each other in person. It was truly a five-star day.
It got me to thinking about the wonderful energy that good collaboration can create. When two or more people come together for positive reasons, you can tangibly feel the expansion of energy. It goes beyond the meeting or conversation. To me it feels like a happy glow. I walked the dog last night with a content smile on my face, feeling fantastic and hoping that it would permeate the walls of the houses I was walking by. Everybody should get to feel this way.
Dr. Christiane Northrup is an OB/GYN and an inspirational author. I saw an interview with her recently where she talked about the healing power that women have. That the energy they can naturally create has such a powerful magnetic force that it can literally heal people and the earth. She emphasized, “this is not a zero-sum game.” The good energy is constantly expanding.
That seems like a pretty big topic to contemplate, but we see it happen every day. The person at the grocery store who is just one of those content, peaceful people that insists with a smile that you go ahead of them in line. Don’t you feel better after meeting them just for that moment? Doesn’t it allow you to take your mind off things and feel gratitude? Isn’t that healing? You merely brushed that person’s energy and you feel better.
My mom is done with her Christmas shopping by Thanksgiving. In fact she sometimes shops and wraps gifts so early that the contents are a surprise to her, as well as the recipient, at Christmas. But she still goes out into the frenzy of last-minute shoppers. She may have a few things on her shopping list but she mainly does it so that she can let people ahead of her in line, compliment the harried shop employees and tip the check-out clerks a few bucks. It is her intention to just go and share some kindness and holiday joy with people. To give people the opportunity to slow down for a moment and appreciate what it’s all about. That is intentional healing.
A wonderful thing happens when people experience random acts of kindness like this—they pass them on. We’ve all done it, without intentionally thinking about it even. Your next trip to the grocery store, you look for the opportunity to let someone in front of you, you’re nicer to the clerk, you just slow it down a bit and connect with people—even if it’s simply with a smile.
Lives get busy, traffic jams up, flights are delayed, people are rude. People contract during these times; they pull away from each other and focus on how their specific plight is much harder than anyone else. I call this the You-Think-That’s-Bad syndrome. Endless one-upping of woe’s. You get stuck in one of those conversations and you walk away from it feeling drained. But just one simple kind gesture can snap a person out of this mode quickly. Ester and Jerry Hicks are wonderful authors and one of their comments that I love is that, “There is no darkness switch. If there is a candle burning in a room, you can’t add enough darkness to snuff it out.”
If we reach out and connect with people every day, we can add so much positivity to the daily spinning of this planet. It is not zero-sum. Everyone that participates in a positive collaboration, benefits—whether it is a chance encounter at the grocery store or volunteering at the food bank. We are all connected and that is a wonderful thing, we may as well share some smiles and laughter on this crazy trip.
