Sometimes, it is the little things in life that impact us the most. Today, I overheard a beautiful conversation, although I think it impacted me much more than the people speaking. It went something like this:
Man: Good morning! How is the world treating you?
Woman: Oh, ya know…
Man: And how are you treating the world?
The man expressing this sentiment meant it merely as a tongue-in-cheek response.
But those words hit me.
We often forget that how the world ‘treats’ us and how we treat the world are two separate experiences.
We may hear some difficult news, be in the midst of a bad day, or just generally feel off. Typically, on these days, how we treat the world is a direct reflection of how we feel inside.
Likewise, when we receive good news, feel happy, or experience something amazing, we are more likely to treat the world with sunshine and smiles.
This may be one of those chicken or the egg situations. Do we feel good and so treat the world well, or do we treat the world well which helps us to feel good? Truly, the answer to this question does not matter in the grand scheme of things.
For example, today I received some difficult news. As I struggled through the day under the weight of this news, I began to realize that my inner turmoil was reflected in my actions. I was making more mistakes and my inner dialogue was extremely harsh. I was just generally putting out negative energy and actions into the world. Shortly after, I overheard the conversation above, and came to a beautiful realization.
Our reactions to the world around us do not need to be a reflection of the experiences we have.
We are in this world, but not of it.
The physical form we are in, our bodies and our minds, may not always be ‘treated’ well, but how we treat the world can be entirely separate. The world (society, our environment, that kind of thing) often treats us with darkness, but we can treat the world from a place of love and light, regardless of outside circumstances.
We can choose to accept and process life with our minds, but respond with our souls.
We can receive the negative energies or experiences of the world, neutralize and process them within our minds, and choose to send out positive energy and experiences from our souls instead. This energy transformation, the change from negative to positive, can go a long way in changing the nature of our world, and can profoundly impact the people in it.
As healers, observers, and mindful people, we are called to spread light into the world. I believe that by treating the earth, and everything that happens within it, with pure love and light, we can begin to shift the energy that surrounds us.
By neutralizing the negative, difficult things we experience and the corresponding negative emotions we may feel, and then choosing to act from a place of kindness, compassion, and love, we replace the negative vibrations of this world with positive ones. We shed lights on bits of the darkness. And together, we begin to make a difference.
