Crashing into power
I’ll admit, it’s been a while since I’ve been in proper traffic. Sure, Aussies complain that they have traffic…ha!!
It’s nothing compared to being bumper to bumper on the 405 backed up for MILES because of a traffic accident in Los Angeles.
Most people, when stuck in traffic resort to complaining, vegging out to a podcast, or, if you’re in the La La Land movie ensemble, dancing on top of your hoods…I joke…I wish!
After spending 20 minutes barely inching ahead on the 5 on the drive home, there’s that human desire to look at what caused the delay.
Whether you’re one of those who likes to look for bodies (it’s okay, you probably also like murder podcasts…we’re not judging)…
Or your the sympathetic soul saying the Hail Mary as you pass the ambulance…
What I’ve noticed after over 30 years of living in Los Angeles and seeing hundreds of traffic accidents, including one I saw the other say is that…usually…
It’s only one person or two people.
One or two people collided with each other causing a ripple of impact on hundreds if not THOUSANDS of commuters.
It’s easy in a big world where big problems seem so big to think that your life doesn’t matter.
That you can’t possibly have THAT big an impact on other people.
But…
You do.
You can.
You are a freaking traffic jam when you decide to step into your power and collide with something greater - your purpose!
You can stop people for MILES with a post.
You can change people’s entire life route with one of your actions.
You can alter someone’s direction in life, positively or negatively, even with your accidents.
You are more impactful than you ever realized.
I remember nearly a decade ago, back when I was accustomed to letting my ego butt into my full expression, I was in a pilates session with a client and we were talking about impact…and, frankly, I didn’t believe I was having that much of an impact back then.
But he said to me,
“You can change the world with a smile.”
I smiled, nodded, and said, “I guess you’re right.”
I had never thought a smile could be that impactful. I think he read my doubt on my face.
Because he the. continued, “Just imagine if someone was planning on committing a horrible atrocity.” This wasn’t hard. It was just weeks after Sandy Hook.
“But you, you smiled and that simple act of kind acknowledgment made him question his course of action. What if that moment, your smile, made him pause to reflect? What if that reflection made him change his mind? I mean, just imagine if someone had smiled at Hitler more.”
My client had had a lot of his family die in the Holocaust.
This conversation has stayed with me for over a decade. THAT was the impact that my client had on me.
One conversation.
A decade remembered.
I’ll probably remember this for the rest of my life.
(Thank you, David, by the way, if you’re reading this.)
As we look upon the world events that have unfolded these past two years, and that are unfolding now, I invite you to simply, smile at another person, from your heart.
Smile at the person in the grocery store.
Smile at your kids.
Smile at your neighbors
Because you never know the traffic jam in the series of world events that your smile, your love, your joy, your heart could cause.
Remember, your reign is now.
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