The Direction of Intention

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She was deeply moved by the conversation. We were talking with a group about interconnectivity and the global impact of small actions – and the reverse, the impact on your life by the larger happenings in the world. She was moved because she recognized how easy it is to say, “This is how the events in the world are impacting my life;” it is much more difficult to accept that your choices and actions impact the world in a significant way. Someone in the group said, “I understand it in an abstract way but it is hard for me to believe that my small life has any impact on the world.”

We imagine ourselves so small.

For a moment the group was quiet and then she offered this story: she told us that many years ago she had a cat and periodically the cat suffered respiratory attacks. The vet diagnosed the cat with asthma but she wondered how could the asthma be periodic? What was triggering these attacks? They seemed random. The vet confirmed that the attacks were not allergies. One day, the answer struck her like a thunderbolt. She was the trigger of the cat’s asthma! The cat had the asthma attacks every time she was feeling anxious. She thought her anxiety was a result of the cat’s attacks but the opposite was true. She said, “It sounds like such a little thing but it opened my eyes; if my cat’s suffering was triggered by my anxiety, what else was I triggering?” She didn’t want her cat to suffer so she made changes in her life. And her life changed.

It is the little stories that send big ripples. The teacher that said to the student, “You can…,” or the parent that tells the child, “Follow your dream…,” or the friend who says, “Why not try….” Everything that’s moved the world forward started with one tiny moment of encouragement, one small choice not to carry the anxiety forward another day.

Who might you be if you recognized that your actions, especially the small actions, set into motion ripples that shake the world?

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