Walk light on this journey called LIFE

[00:00:06] [SPEAKER_00]: Hello Sunshine and how has your week been?

[00:00:11] [SPEAKER_00]: You know when I look around me sometimes, I'm just amazed at the number of people literally

[00:00:16] [SPEAKER_00]: sleep walking through life.

[00:00:20] [SPEAKER_00]: Completely unaware or maybe dead to the purpose for their living.

[00:00:25] [SPEAKER_00]: They waste their time wanting to live their lives the way others live instead of living

[00:00:30] [SPEAKER_00]: a positive life of their own.

[00:00:33] [SPEAKER_00]: Living from a couch, content watching TV like zombies, constantly scrolling through social

[00:00:42] [SPEAKER_00]: media wanting to only live for the next latest watch, the latest car, the latest bag, next

[00:00:51] [SPEAKER_00]: latest electronic gadget.

[00:00:53] [SPEAKER_00]: You know literally swiping their way through life and yet expecting an abundant life.

[00:01:01] [SPEAKER_00]: Now all of us are very special beings with a light of our own.

[00:01:06] [SPEAKER_00]: We each carry that light within us.

[00:01:09] [SPEAKER_00]: Special gifts and talents and experiences that make us who we are and we all have that capacity

[00:01:16] [SPEAKER_00]: to bring joy into people's life.

[00:01:18] [SPEAKER_00]: As today I want to share this beautiful story by Elizabeth Gilbert that I read online.

[00:01:25] [SPEAKER_00]: She says, some years ago I was stuck on a crosstown bus in New York City during Russia.

[00:01:33] [SPEAKER_00]: Traffic was barely moving.

[00:01:35] [SPEAKER_00]: The bus was filled with cold diet people who were deeply irritated with one another and

[00:01:41] [SPEAKER_00]: with the world in general.

[00:01:43] [SPEAKER_00]: Two men barked at each other about a shelf that might or might not have been intentional.

[00:01:49] [SPEAKER_00]: A pregnant woman got on and nobody offered her a seat.

[00:01:53] [SPEAKER_00]: Rage was in the air, no mercy could be found here.

[00:01:56] [SPEAKER_00]: But as the bus approached 7th Avenue, the driver got on the intercom and he said, folks I know

[00:02:04] [SPEAKER_00]: you have had a rough day and you are frustrated and I can't do anything about the weather

[00:02:10] [SPEAKER_00]: or the traffic but here is what I can do.

[00:02:13] [SPEAKER_00]: As each one of you gets off the bus I will reach out my hand to you.

[00:02:18] [SPEAKER_00]: As you walk by drop your troubles into the palm of my hands okay.

[00:02:23] [SPEAKER_00]: Don't take your problems home to your families, tonight just leave them with me.

[00:02:28] [SPEAKER_00]: My route goes right by the Hudson River and when I drive by there later I will open the

[00:02:34] [SPEAKER_00]: window and throw your troubles in the water.

[00:02:38] [SPEAKER_00]: It was as if a spell had lifted, everyone burst out laughing, faces gleamed with surprise

[00:02:44] [SPEAKER_00]: delight.

[00:02:45] [SPEAKER_00]: People who had been pretending for the past are not to notice each other's existence,

[00:02:50] [SPEAKER_00]: were suddenly grinning at each other like is this guy serious and oh he was serious.

[00:02:56] [SPEAKER_00]: At the next stop just as promised, the driver reached out his hand, palm up and waited.

[00:03:02] [SPEAKER_00]: One by one all the exiting commuters placed their hand just above his and mined the

[00:03:09] [SPEAKER_00]: gesture of dropping something into his palm.

[00:03:12] [SPEAKER_00]: Some people laughed as they did this, some teared up but everyone did it.

[00:03:17] [SPEAKER_00]: The driver repeated the same lovely ritual at the next stop too and the next and all the

[00:03:23] [SPEAKER_00]: way to the river.

[00:03:25] [SPEAKER_00]: We live in a hard world my friends and sometimes it's extra difficult to be a human being.

[00:03:32] [SPEAKER_00]: Sometimes you have a bad day that lasts for several years.

[00:03:35] [SPEAKER_00]: You struggle and fail, you lose jobs, money, friends, faith and love.

[00:03:42] [SPEAKER_00]: You witness horrible events unfolding in the news and you become fearful and withdrawn.

[00:03:48] [SPEAKER_00]: There are times when everything seems cloaked in darkness.

[00:03:52] [SPEAKER_00]: You long for the light but don't know where to find it.

[00:03:56] [SPEAKER_00]: But what if you are the light?

[00:03:58] [SPEAKER_00]: What if you are the very agent of illumination that a dark situation begs for?

[00:04:03] [SPEAKER_00]: And that's what this bus driver taught me, that anyone can be the light at any moment.

[00:04:10] [SPEAKER_00]: This guy wasn't some big power player, he wasn't a spiritual leader, he wasn't some media

[00:04:16] [SPEAKER_00]: savvy influencer, he was a bus driver, one of society's most invisible workers but

[00:04:23] [SPEAKER_00]: he possessed real power and used it beautifully for our benefit.

[00:04:27] [SPEAKER_00]: When life feels especially grim or when I feel particularly powerless in the face of

[00:04:33] [SPEAKER_00]: the world's troubles, I think of this man and I ask myself, what can I do right now

[00:04:38] [SPEAKER_00]: to be the light?

[00:04:40] [SPEAKER_00]: And of course I can't personally end all wars or solve global warming or transform

[00:04:45] [SPEAKER_00]: vexing people into entirely different creatures.

[00:04:48] [SPEAKER_00]: I definitely can't control traffic but I do have some influence on everyone I brush

[00:04:53] [SPEAKER_00]: up against.

[00:04:54] [SPEAKER_00]: Even if we never speak or learn each other's names.

[00:04:58] [SPEAKER_00]: No matter who you are, where you are or how mundane or tough your situation is seen, I believe

[00:05:04] [SPEAKER_00]: you can illuminate your world and in fact I believe this is the only way the world will

[00:05:08] [SPEAKER_00]: ever be illuminated one bright act of grace at a time, all the way to the river.

[00:05:14] [SPEAKER_00]: This story you know really touched my heart.

[00:05:17] [SPEAKER_00]: Is these small acts of kindness and compassion that make such a huge difference?

[00:05:23] [SPEAKER_00]: And what would it mean to light the world around you with hope and desire and possibility?

[00:05:31] [SPEAKER_00]: When you just touch even one life, you start to change the whole world.

[00:05:37] [SPEAKER_00]: Start with yourself.

[00:05:40] [SPEAKER_00]: Be honest and true because that's what working light really means doesn't it?

[00:05:45] [SPEAKER_00]: The ability to be honest, to be compassionate, to be authentic, to be true, to be able to

[00:05:51] [SPEAKER_00]: laugh at ourselves.

[00:05:53] [SPEAKER_00]: Admit when we are wrong and apologize.

[00:05:57] [SPEAKER_00]: Showing respect for others.

[00:06:00] [SPEAKER_00]: Bringing value to other people's lives by practicing gratitude, by being kind, trying

[00:06:06] [SPEAKER_00]: to do as much as you can to make someone's day a little better, a little brighter even

[00:06:11] [SPEAKER_00]: if it means just smiling at them.

[00:06:15] [SPEAKER_00]: You know the more you nurture your own light, the better you can illuminate the way for others.

[00:06:21] [SPEAKER_00]: Be easy to be around with.

[00:06:24] [SPEAKER_00]: You know being less judgmental and critical and most importantly learning to be patient.

[00:06:31] [SPEAKER_00]: You know this beautiful quote, a candle loses nothing by lighting another candle

[00:06:37] [SPEAKER_00]: and so it is with all of us.

[00:06:39] [SPEAKER_00]: Yours to each one of us making an effort to bring some light into someone's life, to being

[00:06:45] [SPEAKER_00]: that sunshine in someone's life.

[00:06:47] [SPEAKER_00]: Have a great week everyone and we'll speak to you again next week.

[00:06:52] [SPEAKER_00]: So much love to all of you.

[00:06:53] [SPEAKER_00]: Bye for now.