Amplify The Good

It's hard to amplify the good when bombarded daily with war, violence, and crime. I'm not saying to bury our heads in the sand, but the bad gets all the attention. So along with looking for what's missing or wrong, could we find some balance by looking for and amplifying the good?​

It's there when we look for it: good actions, good-heartedness, and good thoughts.

I was inspired to amplify the good when I recently visited a friend. She told me she couldn't stop complaining about life in general and politics in particular until the day her daughter had a baby. 

It was a miraculous pregnancy, and her daughter elected to have the baby at her parents' home. She chose a sunny room where she could view the tree they had planted in their backyard when she was born. My friend confessed her grandchild's birth filled her with such gratitude that she stopped the grumbling about the world for a moment to reflect on the joy that filled her heart. You see, her daughter was very sick, and her chances of survival were slim. When she was ill, the tree planted when she was born turned brown and looked like it might not recover. Not only did this young woman survive, but the tree also regained its strength with new growth. The baby, the mother, and the tree are all doing beautifully.

And my friend told me that in those moments of birth and re-birth, she remembered to amplify the good, and it gave her direction to balance the dark with the light of joy, goodness, and new life. She reminded me that we engage with the world differently when we forward love and compassion and find profound equanimity centered in the heart.

When I went home that afternoon, I reached in my pocket and found a card my friend had secretly slipped inside. It read: You Shine Like the Sun. It brought tears to my eyes and gave me hope. And although I often hear friends say that hope is not a strategy, sometimes it's all you have to get you through the night.

So today, let's find a moment to speak kind words and amplify the good.