Light quenches darkness

Like a spider's web, we are connected to people across the planet.  People we don't even know.  Two hundred people have contributed to top I'm wearing: that's the statistic.  Although we may not realise it, how we act affects countless people, worldwide.  People we don't even know.

We can imagine that we live in a relatively small way, cocooned in our homes and workplaces, but our influence stretches far beyond the people we see and know.  Have you ever noticed how a single traffic accident can affect 1000s of people's lives, cancelling meetings, missing flights and family get togethers, and wasting hours in tail backs?  Yes, we are more powerful than we imagine ourselves to be and our actions ripple far beyond our own lives.

All of which reminds me, yet again, that we can choose our actions, we can choose the influence and the affect we wish to have on others.  If we are words and actions are sloppy and careless, we contribute to a more chaotic, uneasy world. 

If we allow ourselves to indulge in pettiness, meanness and even small-time revenge, we are adding to the darkness.  While such small, unnoticed thoughts and actions may seem invisible, they leave their mark both externally - upping the 'anti' - and internally, deflating rather than enhancing our sense of who we are.

Equally, by choosing the best in ourselves and looking for the best in others, we enhance our world.  In an infinite variety of ways, we can make a difference.  We can choose to make decisions compassionately, from buying fair trade and organic, to driving carefully and speaking kindly, such minute decisions extend far wider than we are aware. 

They say you can't 'it' with you.  If 'it' is wealth, they're right.  If 'it' is character, then I think they are wrong.  Who we are and who we becomes infused in our spirit, into the Essence of ourselves, and all positive thoughts and actions, according to A Course in Miracles, ripple out infinitely.