Have you ever logged into one of your your social media accounts and wished you could find just the right words to cheer up an entire hoard of people all over the world across time and space with just a few choice key strokes?
There’s plenty of negativity out there and if it’s true (like many gurus, spiritual leaders, and authors attest) that our thoughts are actually living entities and have the power to affect others in a multitude of profound ways, then we in fact have the power to send a positive wave of energy out into the world. What’s the point? The goal is not for your own personal gain, though you will find the positivity zooming right back at you anyway. It’s kind of like playing music in the band in a cozy Irish pub by a crackling fire as a wet and windy mix of weather rages outside the stone walls. The main function is to raise spirits and give strength to others in dire need of a lift. It’s Tuesday today. Who couldn’t use it?
I did a little social media “thought gift” experiment last week and was very happy with the results. The idea is based off of one of those “feel good lists” my health teacher in Swansea, Massachusetts would have us do in the 6th and 7th grades back in the 80’s. The class would exchange a piece of paper with a classmate’s name on it. When you got the paper, you were supposed to write down something you liked about the person. The goal was to ONLY focus on the positive and at the end of the class everyone was left holding a sheet of paper full of their best positive qualities as seen through the eyes of others. I thought this concept could use an update in the age of Facebook, Twitter, and the like and would be useful to more than just troubled adolescents.
This being so-called “gratitude month” as well as the week of American Thanksgiving, the timing could not be better. If you’d like to give it a try, copy and paste the following as your Facebook status:
“Instant mood boost: If you like this, I will tell you exactly why I think you are a wonderful and unique person and why I am better for having known you.”
Obviously you only generate positive vibes if you write a little blurb specific to whichever person likes your post. True, I was at home sick and had the time to actually respond fairly quickly last week. However the speed of your replies does not matter nor does the length. You could aim to write one sentence per person or a small paragraph.
By the way, if you happen to be my friend on Facebook and didn’t see my status, please take heart. I have two Facebook accounts (from those days before grouping was possible). One has alumni, current students, and colleagues and the other does not. Both include family and friends so it’s a bit of a chaotic mess. I hope one of these days to merge the two if I can do so without having to upload my photos a second time.
One of my friends here in Rome did the same thought gift experiment and also had an overwhelmingly positive response which is why I am throwing this out there for others to use. It’s a free gift to others, will lift your contacts’ moods as well as your own, and is guaranteed to cut through the apathy and gloom floating around latent out there in Internet-Land. And if it doesn’t, I suppose there’s always Guinness to be had instead. Cheers.
I'm an artist and educator seeking to empower ordinary people to do extraordinary things.
