“I don’t need a billion dollar career [to achieve great things and be worthy].  Sometimes all you need is a few birdseeds and a smile [to make a difference],” Safi, ShotSavant.  There seems to be this ever pressing need to do something with our lives.  Like we have to do something significant all the time to make it mean something.  I don’t blame people for believing this—we have curated a world culture where we live in extremes—it’s all fantastic or it’s all terrible.  The way the brain works with group-think would then deduce that if we aren’t sharing something fantastic then everything is terrible.  It’s true that there are tons of people with global impact doing a lot of different things and they are meant to have a global reach.  We must not discount those who have the impact to change our world as individuals. The ripples created by changing one person’s life can be immeasurable.  It’s the quiet work behind the scenes that advances us.  It’s the seeds planted by someone that we curate and tend into our own—or vice versa where it’s the people who curate what we have planted. 

Never underestimate what people are capable of, even if it’s one person at a time.  It all makes a difference.  There will be a time when we are quite literally all gone and an entire new population of people will inhabit this Earth.  It’s quite possible that one decision we make can create a change felt for generations.  Even if that’s the case, the new generation will put its spin on our work anyway.  All the things left behind, the pieces of day to day life, the art, the technology from previous eras only give a glimpse into what life was like and we are only applying our best guess at that.  So all we do is going to be viewed differently no matter what we do and we have no control over that—and it doesn’t matter.  If I’ve made strides in my life and I have done better than I did yesterday, if I have given someone hope and encouraged them to go for what works for them, if I have been a catalyst for any change in someone’s life, that is just as impactful as the money.

We can’t take anything with us when we move on.  There were cultures who believed there was a weighing of the souls upon moving to the phase after this existence which suggests to me we need a constant awareness of our priorities.  What did we value in life?  Who did we value?  How much did we love?  What kind of influence did we have?  What KIND of person were we?  These are the questions to consider.  That means we have to consider another set of questions.  Do we need billions of dollars to be happy or are we really content with what we have?  What do we need to have the kind of life we want?  The freedom to make a difference comes when we live authentically aligned with our core truth and that truth is what shows us what we need to be happy.  We need purpose.  What gives us that sense of purpose?  What drives us? If we sit with that for a while, we will start to understand the influence this world has on us because with the quiet that comes with hearing our own voice, we find it’s far simpler than we make it.  We can make a difference in the world with who we are just as we are.  What kind of a difference is up to us. What is it that makes you smile?