Yesterday, I read a great post from Kyoshi Dave Kovar - a reminder about the impact that we have on others. It made me think about how many wonderful teachers I've had in my life, and how many of those conversations had affected me.
And then, I opened an e-mail from a friend of mine - someone who, after looking at my students' Acts of Kindness portfolios, began asking his students to document the kindness that they perform in the world. Suddenly, every student was offering to buy him coffee and although he didn't take up on it, he left the studio in a fantastic mood - already noticing the difference that the thoughtfulness of others can have. Very cool!
Just a few minutes ago, I received a visit from a guest who attended a pressure point seminar that I held earlier today. I had known him for years - my girlfriend did his initial training, I had taught a few guest classes at places where he was training, and he eventually went on and earned his black belt through West Coast World Martial Arts. That brief visit soon became an hour as he shared how much he appreciated the role I had played in his training career: how I had given him his first belt and shared advice that hadn't left him, how he's been following my work with Epic on Facebook and loves how much the kids have grown, how much he appreciated me being there at his black belt test (I rarely miss a WC test), and now we're going to train to hike Mt. Whitney together in late 2012.
To me, I've only shared a few hours here and there with him, but we're connected in a much more profound way because of the quality of those meetings.
I don't always stop to notice it because in my head, it's just what I do....but we are living high-impact lives. Every day, whether we step outside of our homes or reach out through the magic of Facebook, someone else is reading, watching, learning. They won't always say it, but they don't have to.
It's what we do.
No comments:
Post a Comment