Just this past year, I’ve had a few paradigm shifts in terms of how a single person can make a difference.

Whether you’re a teacher, a Jenny Craig counsellor, a personal trainer, a parent, or just a friend, we all posess this incredible power to influence how other people’s lives turn out. I’m not so much talking about donating your time and money to good causes, but more about how we interact with the others around us every day.

Each day, each moment, gives us a unique chance to be a positive or negative influence on someone else’s life.

Can we teach our child just one important life lesson each day, that they will remember forever?

Can we change our habits of tempting our friends with unhealthy food options, and motivate them to choose something better, if for just a single meal?

Can we help someone we’ve just met, if they are struggling to understand something we already know?

Can we show someone that we care, when there’s not really any specific reason to?

While many of us take this ability for granted every day, if we can think a little more about the big picture, how one life lesson with our children will carry them through the rest of their years, how one word of encouragement can be the deciding factor for someone exercising today, or how showing we care how someone is doing impacts whether or not they care about themselves…it all matters more than we often think about.

A simple, “hey, you want to get a workout in with me today” - to a friend who may never exercise…may lead to a new decision to live a healthier life…which can resonate through all future generations of someone’s life as we pass on these habits to our families. And if we take the time to inspire just one person today to do something positive with their own life, the possibility exists that this single event can turn into incredible physical and psychological transformation that becomes a chain reaction of inspiration, passing from one person to the next.

It is for this new way of thinking, that I believe that every interaction I have each day matters, because it can change someone’s life, in some way.

It is a new way to think, but if you can imagine, if everybody thought this way…how much the world would really change? And it’s not saying that changing the world is something that impacts large groups of people all at the same time, but more that we can impact the entire course of someone’s life, which ultimately will impact more individuals…so exponential change can occur when it happens at an individual level.

I guess that’s what they mean when they say, “pay it forward”.

I’m not sure if I’m getting really weird and philosophical as I get older, or if everything just starts making more sense when we find a greater purpose in our lives. Perhaps it’s both.

We went to Freedom Writers today…inspired by a true story. Perhaps it will inspire others to make a difference.

Try changing someone’s life for the better today.