The Ripple Effect

 I believe in the ripple effect.  There are two of them.  One is a cheap wine I used to drink, named “Ripple.”  The other is when I do something that is positive and see how it seems to spread.  I can be kind and helpful.  Others experience this and they in turn begin to do the same.  I have found that criticizing never did much good to change people.  In fact it has a bad ripple effect.  I don’t recommend the wine but I do recommend the positive activity and attitude.  

The Letter

 One way to be of service is to write someone a letter without expecting a response.  Not everyone knows how to write anymore with  pen and paper.  I  sometimes write on museum card stationery with a fountain pen.  Classy.  I sometimes write someone who does not even expect to get a letter from me.  I write in cursive.  Older people can read cursive.  I never met anyone who said they hated to get a snail mail letter from me.  So much junk mail, and then the letter.  It helps make my day.  Gets me out of myself.  

The Plant

 The soul is like the flower plant.  Or vegetable plants.  It needs attention.  It needs to be watered, pruned, sunlight or shade.  Otherwise the plant will wither and die.  So the soul needs attention and that attention is prayer.  The seed of God’s love is planted there, but a times such seed can fall upon hardness of heart, the thorns and rocks of modern life with all its distractions and attractions.  Then the soul gets too little attention in prayer.  Like the plant, it withers.  So attend to it each day.  Give it your time and attention.  Water it with words, silence, meditation, solitude.  Give it Light. 

Needs

 When is there drama in my life?  One scenario is when I create needs that are not real necessities.  I put everything aside because I want to finish a novel I borrowed from the library and the due date is fast approaching.  Then I whine about how difficult my life is with so much to do and no time.  Whenever I have no time for spiritual practice, I usually am creating drama.  Why do people avoid me when I don’t take care of my interior life?  Hmmm.   

Watering

The soul is like a plant.  It needs to be watered.  A spiritual guide, God, Higher Power, Ultimate Reality is the water.  If I don’t stay connected with my spiritual source then I wither up and die within.  A plant may wither and die, but still have an outside look of a plant, though pretty dried up.  It no longer buds or shows its full potential.  It just takes up space.  I don’t want to just take up space.  

Neighbors

 Do you know the names of your neighbors?  There is a good chance that you know the names of players on your favorite team, but not your neighbors’ names.  We connect less now with those around us.  As a child in an apartment building, I knew some of my neighbors.  In our suburban home I knew the names of people in houses around us.  If I did not spend time with them that was my shyness, or lack of social skills.  But I knew their names and would talk with them when I saw them.  I knew all the kids on my block.  And so on.  Showing up where the same people meet is a good way to be known and to know names.  

Decisions

 Who makes my decisions about my life practice?  When it is only me, I often end up where I do not want to be.  How did I get into this mess?  Well, I was running my life on my own counsel.  I did not include God.  It seems when I get into “poor me” syndrome, the best solution is to ask God for help.  When God is involved in how I live my life, I am often brought to where I am supposed to be and live how I am supposed to live, a version of my best self.  I turn the mess over to God.  What have I got to lose?  Some people might say God is just a crutch.  Well, if you cannot walk what do you do?