Ripples #694: Do You Matter?

Ripples #694: Do You Matter?
For our tribe of 31,477 busy people who share encouragement and gratitude.
09/11/2012

PEBBLE:
We must hold in our minds
these utterly contradictory thoughts:
not one of us matters at all;
each of us is infinitely precious.
-Jane Emily Bowers

BOULDER:
Accepting that the world
can do quite fine without us
allows us to put down the burden
of being corrective heroes
and simply concentrate on
absorbing the journey
of being alive.
-Mark Nepo, submitted by Nick in New Jersey

PONDER:
Sometimes we underestimate how important we are to others.
Sometimes we overestimate how important we are to others.

A wise middle ground might be to humbly acknowledge the possibility that we are much MORE important than our least confident selves recognize, and we are much LESS important than our over-confident egos occasionally presume.

I believe we have far more capacity to MAKE someone's day than to RUIN it: smiles, kind words, and/or warm gestures are needed by most everyone we encounter. Let's march out into our crazy week with the determination to leverage that capacity to positively influence and worry less about the potential downsides. Are you in?

Peace,
Paul