Did you know that you’re influencing others all the time?
When you smile at a stranger, they’re more likely to smile at someone else that day.
When you put your shopping cart back where it belongs, someone who watched you do so is more likely to return theirs as well.
When you stop to drop a dollar in the tip bucket of a performing street musician, others are more likely to do the same.
The average person makes between 33,000 and 35,000 decisions per day (many of us have heard this statistic). But often forgotten (or simply not known) is the fact that we’re all influencing others’ decisions all the time.
The above three examples are just that – small examples. Influence also happens in larger ways. I’ve seen it myself, and so have you. I saw it when so many others commuting on bikes in my community inspired me to do the same. I saw it when, being surrounded by Michiganders as opposed to New Yorkers, I began to dress in more comfortable down-to-earth clothing. I saw it when my 11-year-old nephew’s newfound passion for playing music made me want to find that again for myself.
And I’m sure you can think of many examples for yourself as well.
One of the songs on my singer-songwriter album, entitled “Choices,” includes the lyric:
Choices, choices every day
Light and darkness as we make our way
Choices, choices, gain what we give
A million choices add up to a life well lived
It can be hard, particularly at a time when a lot of really bad stuff is happening in our country and the world, to choose light over darkness. I write this blog today from a place of wanting to remember, and wanting all of you to remember as well, that every time you choose to do something good, to be kind, to do the right thing, to make the world a better place in a tiny or huge way – it’s not just you that you’re making that choice for. It’s all of us.
So the next time you’re faced with a choice: to take the high road or the low one, to be kind in the face of adversity or succumb to cold bitterness, to smile at a stranger who looks like they’ve had better days or simply look away – remember that your action is a drop in a large pond indeed, and you never know how far those ripples will go.
