The Ripple Affect – Our Story of A Random Act of Kindness

Have you ever heard those stories of people going through a drive through on a toll road or at a fast food restaurant and a person pays for the person behind them? I’ve never actually done that. Probably because I don’t eat at fast food restaurants or go through toll roads that much.

Many of you know recently we got back from a trip to the Caribbean on a 2 week medical cleansing retreat. Kate and I had the most amazing time. We kept pinching ourselves because we couldn’t really believe all this was happening as a result of doing this radio show.

How did that happen? I couldn’t believe all this was the result of talking with guests on the show, building a website and writing articles. I still think it’s very strange.

Anyway it took us 3 flights to get there and 3 flights back. Of the 6 flights in total 4 of them were stand by flights which meant we only got on the plane if there was room. We didn’t have guaranteed tickets.

On our way back we flew from the Caribbean back to Florida and were staying one night in Florida before we flew back to California. In customary fashion Kate and I got a taxi from the airport to Whole Foods before we got to our hotel room for the evening. When we got out of the cab at Whole Foods (nothing like shopping in a health food store with all your rolling luggage and backpacks!) the taxi driver stiffed us $10 bucks when he gave me back the change. It was dark and there was a lot happening (I was also calculating his tip) in the parking lot at that time.

When he drove away I was thinking, “What the heck?! He stole $10 bucks from us!” On top of that we tipped him. Oh man that got my blood boiling. Normally I would let that kind of stuff eat me up.

We needed that cash to buy groceries.

As we were picking out apples Kate and I looked at each other, took a deep breath and reminded each other to let it go. He obviously needed the money more than we did and money is just energy right?

I took a deep breath and realized that right now is all I have and he needed that money more than we did. I felt so good that we were able to let that go. It felt so freeing and surprising that I was able to do that. That was so unlike me. 🙂

After we bought our green juice, salad and a couple organic, free range hard boiled eggs we sat down to eat and had a great time. Then we left Whole Foods and called another cab to take us to our hotel for the night.

A thought crept in my mind, “That guy better not come back to pick us up!” Ahh deep breath. So we waited.

Then this awesome girl comes walking out with her green juice in hand and asked us if we needed a ride somewhere. I was shocked. I mean who does that these days? And to have a girl offer that is even more rare. I’m sure it was because Kate was with me but still.

Turns out she’s super into health, green juices and yoga. She’s also on her way to quitting her corporate job to become a massage therapist. As she said, she wants to “stick it to the man and quit my corporate job!”. Music to my ears.

After talking in her car for the 5 minute drive, Kate shared our website with her and we’ve been in contact since. She offered for us to have dinner with her next time we’re in Florida.

The next day Kate told me about the movie Pay It Forward during our 4:00am taxi ride to the airport. We were talking about all the what ifs. What if Jamie shared our site with a friend who was sick and that person implemented some natural healing strategies we recommend and ended up living when they could have died otherwise doing conventional treatments.

Then what if that person met a man or woman and got married and had a child? What if that child ended up becoming somebody who has massive influence?

Or what if Jamie ended up joining our forum and met somebody close to her and they became friends? Think about if they were to hang out in person one day? Could they go into business together? Could they do something amazing to change the world? What if they hung out a lot as a result of finding each other on our forum? Think of all the places they could go or be that they might not otherwise?

Because one of them was in one place vs another maybe they would have avoided a car crash, robbery or rape attempt?

There was some reason Jamie offered to pick us up that day. Perhaps that happened so I would eventually end up writing this article to inspire you. Or perhaps she did that so that Kate and I would learn about how kind people can be. There’s a reason for everything. Or maybe there’s some information on our site that will one day help her.

Who knows?

Your mind can go down so many rabbit holes with all the “what if” scenarios. But the thing that fascinates and inspires me is the fact that I can create a platform and community that affects change in the world.

Remember, you never know who you’re speaking to or you never know who is speaking with you. Don’t underestimate the influence you have on people’s lives. It’s much more than you’ll ever know.

Perhaps we will never know just how much impact our lives have on the world. One day it would be amazing to see every life that was different as a result of us being in it. It would be equally fascinating to see what lives people would have led had we never existed or had we never pursued our dreams.

The fact that you’re here and in this world is reason enough to know that your life has meaning and is influencing the world in some way. If you were having not influence in the world, would you be here?

The question is what kind of influence are you having in the world and how can you have an even bigger impact?