I'm sitting in my office. The beautiful sunny day filled with birdsong keeps drawing my attention out the window. The trees are beginning to bud out and it is that time when everything seems to hold so much promise and aliveness.

Of course, I would much rather be playing outside, and the giggles of a child somewhere in the neighborhood float in through the open window, causing me to pause and consider my options.

I have my own business. It's Friday. It's a gorgeous day outside. Doesn't seem like the choice would be to hard, eh?

The truth is, I have a client coming soon. And next week I am taking a couple days off to go play with some friends in Mexico, on the beach.  It all comes down to choices, and priorities. So for now, I will draw my gaze back to my work at hand, and take solace in knowing I will be playing soon enough.

When I work with my clients, helping them to make healthier choices for a happier life, I try to guide them in the direction of recognizing the value of choices we make based on what makes us the happiest, as well as what is best for us in the moment. While closing my office door and heading out to play might make me happy, it certainly wouldn't make my client happy when she showed up. And in the long-run, that wouldn't make me very happy, as I wouldn't have a business left if I kept that up! Since I love what I do, I make the choice to stay, grateful for the sun streaming through the open window that allows me to hear the birdsong, and child laughter.

Another practice is to consider the idea of bringing a playful attitude into whatever you are doing.  Making my work fun, by approaching it with with childlike curiosity and wonder, helps me to keep a happy framework around my tasks. When I remember to do this I discover that my work becomes my play, and my play becomes my work.

I wonder if I can do that with my taxes?

The Ripple Effect

Do you want to be a positive influence in the world?

First, get your own life in order. Ground yourself in the single principle so that your behavior is wholesome and effective.

If you do that, you will earn respect and be a powerful influence.

Your behavior influences others through a ripple effect.

A ripple effect works because everyone influences everyone else.

Powerful people are powerful influences.

If your life works, you influence your family.

If your family works, your family influences the community.

If your community works, your community influences the nation.

If your nation works, your nation influences the world.

If your world works, the ripple effect spreads throughout the cosmos. Remember that your influence begins with you and ripples outward. 

So be sure that your influence is both potent and wholesome. How do I know this works? All growth spreads outward from a fertile and potent nucleus.

You are a potent nucleus.