Pass the positivity

For most of my life I’m always thinking of positive ways that can help other humans. It started in childhood and as I got a little older, I always was looking for that big idea of grander to help make an impact with other humans like the invention of electric car or the thermos bottle. Always wondering about a major idea that can make positive change. I was dreaming of a monumental idea(s) that collectively could be a positive change for our species. Nothing big has ever come into fruition. But I realized you don’t need a massive invention to impact a change to makes peoples lives better. I lend to the idea that the real change happens in the small acts between human beings. In small actions between two people where in those interactions we can have life impact for just one person to ripple across time.

Rather than having one person invent something grand that can be beneficial to all of humanity. Humanity could do one act to benefit one other person, and it would ripple across all of humanity making this a better world. We don’t need recognition of something grand to do one or two or three serious acts of kindness of help to make the world better. We just need to be open to the idea that we can make very impactful positive change in another human beings life.

In my family the older generation would talk about the Great Depression and the stories passed down of the effects. As a child I would see family members give a dollar to strangers on the streets holding signs needing help or down on their luck. Those life struggles of the Great Depression were taught and passed down to the next generation with the small act of kindness for strangers. If we were on a family road trip we give a dollar or two to strangers in need with a sign at a gas’s station or on a major roadway. The older generations passed hand me downs clothing across different states to family or friends in need. We would save cloths and donate them to people in need. My mom worked in the City and would take a bag to leave on this street that had a lot of homeless people. Sometimes it was shoes or pants or shirts or a jacket. Article that still could be used and still had life left to them.

When I turned of drinking age and would go with my friends out on the city and if I saw someone asking for money I give them a few bucks or a $5 bill knowing I was gonna waste it on drinks and it could help this person get some food. But then I realized many times that money was being used for alcohol for themselves. Seeing many times that different people and in different cities walk right into a liquor store shortly after and walking out with a bottle. That slammed the door on my naïveness of what I thought they would spend the money on. So I stopped giving out cash and started to hand out food think it be a better impact. Sometimes it was half a meal or deli sandwich, left over pizza or pizza by the slice or a drink or sometimes something homemade.

One day I was driving by my bank and there was a homeless lady seeking shelter from this rain storm. I was making chicken soup and I was thinking about how it must be terrible to be out in this rain storm. So I brought the homeless lady a big bowl of the soup and donated one of my metal spoons. She didn’t say much but started consuming the chicken soup. I went home and thought about it. She was under a blanket but she must have been cold in the rain storm and she was obviously very hungry. It made me wonder how many people passed by and why was it that I acted on my thoughts. This led me to thoughts of questioning why and was it a higher power in the universe. Was I meant to notice and to act. This thought lead me down to the idea that I was open to help and a little more. Meaning not only a thought about helping but actual taking action some how. This is a seed that been growing inside me. We all have so many positive thoughts and ideas that come up in our minds but something holds us back from acting on these ideas. Are they merely entertaining thoughts or are some ideas like I muscle that are not worked? Maybe they need to be trained like a barbell curl and action needs practice. Thinking about helping others is more about taking action multiple times so your thoughts move into an impulse of wanting to act on it. Then thoughts become a need to help with acting on those thoughts in a positive way to help.

The most important thing humanity can do is be open to help. But more importantly be open to the idea of being aware that a person may need an act of kindness by a complete stranger. When we are open to being aware then we are open to giving help and if we are open to giving help then we can act and make a positive difference in that moment. The positive difference can be a small gesture like a one time act or something big over the course of a couple days or a couple months. It can be as simple as giving a drink or a meal or simply some of your time.

These seeds have led to this idea of helping three people in your life time. The power of three is simply about helping three strangers or someone you know that really needs an impactful dedication of time during your life. Something that can be life altering to them. Maybe it’s a stranger stuck in a place or stuck in hard times. Maybe is something more personal like someone struggles with addiction or struggles with grief or dealing with a type of mental health moment. Maybe it’s present during a natural disaster and you can physically help with clean up or reconstruction or use a skill you have. What ever the event or moment is and you notice someone needing help. It’s about being open and aware to the possibility of the universe putting a situation in front of you that with your skills, or talent or compassion and empathy you know you can lend help.

The generous act of helping doesn’t have to just be for complete strangers. It can be someone you know that’s going through a struggle. Maybe it’s a friend going through something difficult and it requires you to adjust your life for a couple weeks or a couple months giving more of your time for them. Maybe it’s checking in on them daily or maybe it’s sleep on their couch for a short time being there to get them through their difficult times and helping them overcome their struggle. Maybe it’s as simple as changing a tire for a stranger who’s having a terrible month for what ever unknown reason yet maybe the universe timed your presence to witness cuz you could help. Knowing it would make a world of difference for that person on that day.

Some may think the world to be huge but if you ever travel you start to realize it’s a lot smaller and a lot more connected. In 17hrs you could practically be anywhere on this planet. I have had friend on vacation in Europe run into each other or walk off a bus and bump into an old boss of mine. I have family get a bite to eat and meet a group of people on vacation in the middle of the jungle in South America who grew up in a little old mining town where they grew up 50 years earlier. I’ve gone on vacation on a tropical island when I was 21 and walked out of a store sad by the price of the Hotel store and a local bus driver notice and started talking to me and gave me a ride to a better spot only to find out that his family owned a bowling alley near my home. The world being big or small in our eyes doesn’t matter. What matters is that we are more connected then we think. If we are more connected that means helping someone has more power then we think.

The three acts are meant to be impactful to another persons life. If one person can be impactful in a positive way to three other human beings this is a great way to impact the world. In doing so I hope and wish those people who received help pay it foward by finding three other people to help and to be impactful in a positive and meaningful way. Then those people would then be nine people who themselves could pay it forward to three more people. Then we have nine (9) that turns to twenty seven (27) and that turns to eighty one (81) and that turns to two hundred forty three (243) and that goes help seven hundred twenty nine (729) and quickly that becomes (2187) (6561) (19683)(59049) and so on and it keeps growing across the world with people helping three more people with serious life change acts of kindness. Together we can all make a tremendous change for humanity with just simply being open and aware and giving our time to help with generous acts of kindness. Let’s make the world better one person at a time.