Good Vibes

The following is a reflection written by Greg Umhoefer, one of this year's North House Volunteers.

Think about your average day. How many people do you walk past? How many people do you talk to? And how many people do you ignore? Take a second to think about that.

Both sets of lives, even with their own unique twists and turns, have brought you together for a brief moment. A brief moment of possibility to be the face of love to that person. Such a special intersection should not be disregarded or cast aside. Instead we must try to recognize those moments and then fulfill them until they over flow, because we cannot imagine how important a selfless act of love can be.

Now, I am not saying that every act of love must be this monumental, life altering occasion with confetti and balloons. It could be something as simple as holding the door open for someone with their hands full, or calling an old friend just to see how they are doing. The degree of the act does not matter, but what does is that you have willingly decided to step into someone’s life, even if it is for a brief moment, and then chosen to exhibit the face of love. I like to call those everyday acts of love, good vibes. And before you start to throw the word hippie around, let me explain.

All of us walk around putting dozens of actions into the world. And all those actions have a ripple effect that directly and indirectly influence the lives of those around us for better or worse. For example, earlier last week I gave a homeless gentleman $5 and maybe there was someone who saw me do that and then they too decided to give a good vibe to someone else. Now all of a sudden over the past week a chain reaction has occurred and suddenly millions of people are now part of a vast network of kindness and love that has grown out of one simple act I did in passing. That might be wishful thinking, and I doubt it ended up resulting like that, but wouldn't that be awesome if it did?

So go back to thinking about all those people you walk past, talk to, and ignore. All of those people represent an opportunity for you, an opportunity to embody love. That is such a tremendous gift and it occurs daily! So please take that gift and fulfill it. Be a smiling face to a stranger. Be a positive word of encouragement to a friend. Be an act of charity to those you would normally pass by. If all of us continue to put good vibes into the world day after day, then I cannot see why a network of millions of loving people helping each other out would not happen. When you put good vibes in, you get good vibes out.