“One person can make a difference. In fact, it’s not only possible for one person to make a difference, it’s essential that one person makes a difference. And, believe it or not, that person is you.”
Bob Riley
The majority of people live their entire life without become consciously aware of just how important and significant they are and can be to people’s lives and, therefore, the world. They spend the few or many decades of their existence caught up in their own world, swamped by their own insecurities, and concerned about whether or not they’ll make it in life. In doing so, they remain ignorant to the fact that they impact the people around them. That their presence is essential. They think that they don’t matter. They think that even if they work the hardest they ever have, it won’t make a difference or count in the end. And they think that when their body dies, that it is the end of their presence and its ripple on Earth.
… And how unbelievably, extraordinarily incorrect most people are.
I judged people in the past for being caught up in their own world instead of taking their gifts and doing something profound in the world. It was a judgement that came from the innate knowing within me that every single human being has something of value to offer to humanity and the ability to make a great contribution possible while living an extraordinary life. But then I reflected back over the years of my life and realized how many moments there have been where I didn’t think that my life was so significant in context of the world, either. I remembered all the times where I felt like I was invisible or where I felt that my world and challenges were on top of me. And I remembered how long it took me to realize that I wasn’t small or even remotely meaningless to the people around me; years and years. In fact, it was because I felt that I didn’t matter that I first wound up laying on the floor at age 19 wanting to take my own life.
I felt that, besides my own parents and close friends at the time, no one really cared deeply or minded much whether or not I succeeded, shone, rose up, or faded away entirely. I yearned to know that I mattered; I wanted to know my place in the universe… because life didn’t seem to be worth it to me otherwise. I had felt wounded, excluded, and misunderstood during my schooling years and so the most important thing to me from age 19 onward was that I felt connected to people – and not just a small group of people, but the entire world. After all of the pain I had faced through school and suicidal moments just to connect with my writing gift for the first time (writing had fast become a private relief from my struggle and an outlet for my emotions), I just wanted to know that there was something inside me that I could express that would land deeply with other people.
I had shared parts of my writing with the few girls I felt connected to at school and they had said it had made a difference in their life; that they had read them before bed at night and it eased their own pain. This let me know that my own inward expression was not just to relieve the angst that I experienced, but that I could establish deep, meaningful connections with other people while I did what I loved: which at the time was to write. As perfection would have it, this soothed two wounds at once – the desire to be heard, felt, and understood, and the desire to know I had helped someone else.
And so I was reminded of this when I lay on the floor in my late teenage years. I reconnected with the fact that perhaps I did matter to people outside my close circles, and I felt that if I began writing again, then I would find my pathway to a meaningful life. I began to see how I was being directed during the depression as a late teenager to reconnect with one way that I knew I could be significant to and in the lives of others. It may not have seemed like much at the time – writing something to touch someone else’s life, even if I didn’t get paid – but to me, it was the world. It was the tiny flame that I was able to nurture from that day onward: a flame that now burns brighter than it ever has before and one that reminds me every single day that I do count in this world.
What I am certain of today is that you don’t have to climb Mount Everest or run a billion dollar company or create a global philanthropic cause to know, see, and feel that you are significant or that what you do and who you are DOES count. Your significant impact on the planet starts right here. It starts in this moment in your life today. It starts with you seeing how you already touch lives and acknowledging the importance of your presence in the lives of so many people to date. In fact, even if you only helped one person by being there in a crucial moment for them – perhaps a moment when they felt they couldn’t go on anymore – then your entire existence has been a service to the planet. I find it impossible not to acknowledge the power and significance of my actions after a time where someone has said that because of something I wrote, they felt they could go on.
Imagine for a moment all the faces in the world. Imagine the hearts of all the people. Imagine their family systems, their religious beliefs, their upbringings. Hear the stories of their lives inside your mind. Let it flow through your heart and mind. Now picture the human condition in your mind. Bring your awareness present to the truth of how much struggle each human being faces in the span of a lifetime by recalling how much struggle you have personally faced in your own lifetime so far. And then connect with the desire inside every single person to live, have and be present inside a greater life.
How is it even possible that you can’t or aren’t able make a difference to at least 1,000 of the 7-plus billion people on Earth? To help those 1,000 people solve just one of those problems that hinders their spirit from flying? Why would life have it any other way? Why would the divine order of the universe operate any differently? What would be the purpose of your existence if you couldn’t or weren’t born to help others find their way through the darkness they face? And why would life rob you of the greatest rewards and deepest gifts of all that come when someone says to you that they wouldn’t or couldn’t have done it without you – or that because of you, they created their dreams?
The very way in which you choose to live has an impact on the people around you. Stop, open your eyes wide, and take a closer look. Feel into the people around you and imagine what it is like for them to experience you from the outside. Put yourself in their shoes for a moment – and not just the shoes of one person, but the shoes of many. The shoes of your spouse. The shoes of your closest friend. The shoes of the people walking past you on the street or the cashier. Who are you really being for the people around you? What significance do you already have in and on their lives? Which message are you sending out and what are you an invitation for people to be, do, see, and feel about their lives and life as a whole?
Every little movement you make, every word you speak, the way you express yourself, and every action you take adds up… and each one has more power in it than you realize. Namely, it is impossible for who you are and how you are being not to touch the lives of those around you. Even if you only meet someone for a fleeting moment, your presence can impact them for years to come. I know that this has been true for me, where I have conversed with someone for just a few short moments but their words have stayed with me for a lifetime. I’m sure you have also experienced encounters like this, where someone appeared out of the blue and impacted your life forever. So make your presence count. See the difference you already make – the significance you already have and have had. Choose who and how you want to be. Act, live, talk, walk and express yourself consciously, and realize that you are anything but insignificant to and in this world, otherwise you would not have been born to begin with.
In summary, let me just say that with an enormous amount of life experience already under your belt from the past – regardless of how biologically old you are in this moment – and the many profound layers of meaning that can be drawn from the years you have been walking this planet, I find it impossible to believe that you couldn’t teach me something that would change me or that your presence wouldn’t leave a lasting mark on me if we connected. Every single time I coach an author to write their book, I witness them finally meet the power of their message and discover how much they have inside them that can lift others up. I watch them discover the depth they didn’t know they had after leaving the shores of fear that what they write may not matter. I see them connect with the power they have to offer another human being a whole new life – or at the very least, a new perspective on life. And now I am inviting you to do the same.
I invite you to meet yourself:
In all that you are.
In your capacity to lead.
In the difference you care to make.
And in the undeniable truth that you COUNT.
While I believe that being significant in and to the world is a given – because you already are, in more ways than you can possibly imagine – I do also believe that the possibility of making an even greater impact on the lives of others and bringing your highest gifts, divine knowledge, God-given talents, and heartfelt wisdom forwards to serve a higher number of people is a choice.
Why not touch the lives of the people you care about? Why not show your children, if you have them, or the young people around you (which we all have), what is truly possible? Why not encourage them to reach for the greatness within them so they don’t die having never tried to aspire for what they are actually capable of? And, why not touch people beyond your own family and immediate sphere? Why not reach out further than your own comfort zone and aspire to touch your family that is the world? Why not embrace the globe with your heart and aspirations, your difference and your unique ripple effect, your contribution? All of humanity is your home, not just the few you spend your time with; at least that is how it feels to me. I know I can make a significant difference in my own family, but I also know that I yearn for more; that I know I can touch the lives of so many more (which leads to a bigger, more meaningful difference in my family in the long run).
You can take who you are and be someone significant in the lives of others. You can put your best foot forwards and fulfil a life of doing what you love that also implicitly touches the hearts and minds of others in a meaningful way. You can decide to immerse yourself in a life of service where you go beyond your own doubts and connect with your ability to heal, coach, empower, teach, educate, and inspire the people who are ready. You can choose to transcend your fears and share your musical abilities, your singing voice, your business acumen, your understanding of healing, your lifetime of information, and your spiritual message with those who need and would appreciate it most. And…
… You can step forwards into the realization that you are significant.