Ripples in Daily Living

When I was twelve, I went to a Boy Scout Camp that was located beside a small lake.  In the evening when the water was still, we would toss rocks in the lake and watch their effect with ripples expanding in all directions. 

 We would heave big rocks, small rocks, and handfuls of rocks to see what effect we could make on the surface of the water.  Today, I have come to believe and am convinced we are all making ripples every day in the lives of all those around us. 

My wife likes to read NDE (Near Death Experience) stories.  I picked up some of those books and found some similarities and parallels in the various writers’ experiences.  Many of them refer to having their life reviewed and flash before them.  Some have described that experience in detail where they saw the people and the hurt to whom they had harmed in the past and had not even a clue that they had done so.  Then they saw the people that they had helped and inspired by their words and example and again, had not a clue they had had such an effect on the lives of those around them.  

To me, that is the ripple effect or phenomenon taking place in our lives daily.  Call it, It’s a Wonderful Life, or Life Sucks; it is the ripples we make in others lives which we will probably never know. 

A few months ago, I read a book called Beyond the Breath, by Marshall Glickman and I made a life goal of eliminating suffering.  Once I grasped the magnitude of suffering in our lives, I found this to be a most noble goal and I follow this path daily to see where it will take me.  I now believe this is the Road Less Traveled as described by Robert Frost.

Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,
And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveler, long I stood
And looked down one as far as I could
To where it bent in the undergrowth;

Then took the other, as just as fair,
And having perhaps the better claim
Because it was grassy and wanted wear,
Though as for that the passing there
Had worn them really about the same,

And both that morning equally lay
In leaves no step had trodden black.
Oh, I marked the first for another day!
Yet knowing how way leads on to way
I doubted if I should ever come back.

I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I,
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference. 

Robert Frost

 This path has a three prong approach to eliminating suffering. 

1-         Omit unwholesome acts

2-         Commit wholesome acts

3-         Purify the mind

Shortly after adopting this life goal, I realized that I had hurt someone to whom I had sent an email with a sharp dig.  I did it with intent and it worked. 

 Realizing the suffering I had created for another; I sent a letter of apology and a promise that I would never again do that.  And if I had a problem again, I would seek them out and share my hurt and not react and strike out.  So far, it has been a watershed moment.  I consider closely now if my words will cause hurt or harm to others.  It feels good.  And the weeks are turning into months. 

Now on to step two; committing wholesome acts.  At first, I thought this would be difficult to do with my physical disabilities and limitations.  Not so.  I have found that right mindedness and right speaking allows me a rich means of showing and sharing GRATITUDE. Gratitude is one of the four sublime states of the mind and I use it every day in my speaking and my writing. 

Today I received a thank you card in the mail from a fellow to whom I had recently wrote a letter of appreciation with a gift card.  He thanked me for that gift card but what touched him most was my acknowledgement of his good works and how much I admired him. 

His thank you note will sit here by my computer for many days to come.  It helps me remember, not to forget that we are daily making ripples in the lives of those around us.  And this Thank You note is just one reflection of those ripples that are constantly expanding.