Do you know how I feel when someone lets me merge in traffic or holds a door open? When a stranger smiles and means it? Reassured about the world. Happy. Thankful and hopeful. Because that stuff is just as potentially contagious as sticking your traffic finger out the window of your car, or letting the elevator doors close “accidentally on purpose.”
We are energetic creatures, and wherever we go we’re spreading energy, and absorbing it. Now some of that can be a choice…you can decide not to let the fact that someone cuts you off on the freeway effect your blood pressure or your mood. You can decide not to allow someone else’s comments or actions rob you of the joy or peace you might be cultivating in your own heart in that particular moment. You do not have to receive the gift of someone’s anger unless it belongs to you. If you want to do a little advanced practice, you can wave and smile at the people who cut you off and confuse the sh&t out of them and drive away with a big grin on your face. And you can also decide to be accountable for the energy you’re contributing as you move through your day. Especially if you’re angry about something, or feeling dark. Which is perfectly natural, but not necessarily something you want to be spreading all over the place.
Whenever it’s possible, whenever you’re feeling it within you, spread some light, some joy, some kindness. Share your smile, that twinkle in your eye, or the kind of laughing that makes your sides ache. Share hugs and hope, and act on those spontaneous feelings of wanting to help people, even if, (maybe especially if), you don’t know them. It’s natural for us to care about each other. We’re hard-wired for compassion (Google “mirror neurons”). We’re just out of practice. We’ve bought into a story that is a lie. We have been taught to be hard, to compete, to “get ahead or get left behind”. Unlearn that stuff, it is not authentic to you, or me, or anyone else. Drop the armor.
We humans, we really need connection. None of us is alone here, but it can feel that way sometimes, when people are cold or harsh or distracted or racing by. Be one of the people who’s holding a door open. Because there’s a secret to living this life in a way that feels incredible. There’s a formula, and for some crazy reason, it doesn’t get shared enough. The more you spend your time and energy trying in whatever big and little ways you can to uplift other people, the happier and more fulfilled and full of purpose you’re going to feel. Spread the wings of your heart and fly into this day and share every ounce of love you’ve got because you will never run out. Sending you love, Ally Hamilton
