Transforming Our Communities

Have you ever heard the phrases, "if you want love, give love" or "if you want joy, give joy?" Is it true? Does it work?

It's difficult to quantify love or joy. However, there are other things that we can measure. Here's an example that relates this concept to networking:

One of my good friends was going to a professional development seminar. He's also a person who's launching a new career and looking for networking opportunities. I told him that "networking events" are actually not the best place to network. Other events, that don't advertise themselves at networking events, are better. I said to him, "You're going to meet certain kinds of people at this seminar. You can develop relationships that live beyond the length of the seminar. This is a group of people that are great for you to connect with."

I realized then that if I become an outstanding networker myself, I can only reach so many people. However, if I give networking skills or can teach the people in my network how to become better networkers, then my network increases exponentially! So really, the quality of my network is as good as my ability to teach my network how to network. Does that make sense? I help friends become more conscious of, and appreciate their circle of influence.

Bottom line, "if you want to be a great networker, give networking skills away to others."

Now, just because this idea works with networking, it doesn't mean that it works with love or joy. No, we can't prove that to be true, because love and joy aren't easily measurable. Dr. Paul Turro from my Landmark Wisdom Course says, "I don't know what's true. I know what's useful." And from my experience, it is useful to believe that "if you want love, give love" and "if you want joy, give joy."

Living this philosophy will not only help us develop as individuals, it will have an impact on the people we know. We may talk to people in our neighborhoods; we may talk to people in our companies. We may associate with people in various clubs or charities. We may socialize with people when we participate in sports or recreational activities. Our influence doesn't just rub off on the people we converse with; it rubs off on all the "communities" we are connected to.

Our parents may have told us not to hang around bad kids, even though they knew we were a good kid. They wanted us to hang around other good kids. That's one of the premises of the Wisdom Course, that we are a product of the people with whom we hang around -- unless we're consciously choosing to impact our communities.

So, if the life you now have isn't what you want, then hang around different people. Hang around people that you respect, that you admire, and that you want to be like. If you're living a life you love, and you want it to be even better, then start giving your life to others by sharing -- it will cause transformation in the lives of the people with whom you hang around. Make a difference in the world, any day, anytime, with anyone. And, make a difference in your life, all at the same time.