Ripple Effect of LOVE

Everything we do and think affects the people in our lives, and the choices we make have far-reaching consequences. Known as the Ripple Effect, our connections stretch like an incredibly interwoven and complicated tapestry that we are all a part of. Thoughts and actions are like stones dropped in a pond and they create ripples that travel outward.

Each of us carries within us the capacity to change the world in small ways for better or worse. One inspiring example of the ripple effect appeared in The New England Journal of Medicine. It recently published a study that showed how a single altruistic kidney donation set off a domino effect, resulting in 10 successive transplants!

Will you join me his holiday season to collectively and consciously choose to add more love to the world?

10 Ways to share the LOVE:

• When it’s freezing outside, offer hot chocolate to crossing guards, policeofficersand others.

• Rescue a wallflower! Strike up a conversation with someone who’s standing alone at a party.

• Think of the amazing people in your life, then send them a card telling them why they’re awesome.

• I read about a family out to dinner with a special needs child. The kid was acting up and the waitress brought over a note that said “God only gives special children to special people” from a mystery guest who paid for the family’s meal.

• If you are artistic, paint small rocks with words like “Believe” or “Have Faith” or “Love Will Find You” and leave in random places.

• Spend a few minutes on www.freerice.com, a United Nations Food Program, that will donate rice to hungry people for every question you get right on their learningweb site. You can test your vocabulary, geography, chemistry and even answer SAT prep questions. It’s fun!

• Pay for someone else’s coffee or their meal when you are in the drive through lane, pay the toll for the car behind you, or put coins in the street meters for someone else’s car.

• Buy gift cards to Subway or McDonald’s and hand out to homeless people.

• Pack up meals, socks, and goody bags to take to hand out to the homeless on the streets.

• Help someone do a chore likeyardwork or shoveling snow.

Finally, another great reason for sharing your love and kindness is that it’s an oxytocin booster…this will reduce your stress, lower your blood pressure, and give you more pleasure!

Wishing you love, laughter, and magical kisses,

 Arielle