Positive Pebbles

Throw Positive Pebbles in the Pond of Life

Have you ever noticed, well of course you have, that if you throw a pebble into a still pond, you create ripples that get bigger and bigger as they radiate outwards. It is a lovely mesmerising effect to watch these perfectly round ripples reflecting the light as they grow.

Well, life’s like that. We throw pebbles all day and they have a ripple effect of the world around us. We deal with people constantly whether they be the girl on the supermarket checkout, the man at the train ticket office, a colleague at work, our family, a little old lady at the bus stop, or whatever. And with each interaction we cast a pebble. The problem is we can throw negative pebbles as well as positive ones – both create a ripple effect.

You see, with each interaction, we leave a little bit of ourselves behind. Snap at someone because you have woken up late for instance and you leave a bad taste which they in turn will probably pass on to someone else, and so the ripples build. A kind comment can, however, have the opposite effect, leaving them feeling better for the encounter, and again, they are likely to pass this on to another person, and so positive ripples build. Just think how many encounters you have during one day, either in person, on the phone, by text, by email, or in some other way – you might be surprised how many opportunities you have to positively (or otherwise!) affect other people’s lives.

You have probably all heard of the Random Acts of Kindness initiative where each day, you aim to do acts of kindness for others, some of whom might be complete strangers. We are not talking major things that might be costly in terms of money or time, just little things that take but a moment – we are talking pebbles, not boulders! It could be just to smile at someone you pass, to thank someone, to compliment someone, to pick up litter to make  the local park look better, give up your seat on the bus – the list is endless. I think its a great idea. You may not get thanked because the person on the receiving end may not even realise it was you who did the kind deed…….but being anonymous makes it even better!

We all live together in this pond we call the world and there is enough negativity around already, so how about tossing some positive pebbles in the pond and making it a better place. If everyone in the world did that every day, what a difference it would make.

But, hey, someone has to throw the first positive pebble in your neck of the woods to start the ripples going……….why not you?

Thanks for visiting Time to Reflect, and for reflecting with me.

(All words and images on this site are copyright of Terry Yarrow and must not be reproduced without permission)