Voting with your dollars, your words and your attention!

I had a really nice conversation tonight with a very good friend of mine, someone who I admire and respect and who always bring a smile to my heart. I always like to “pick her brain” and hope to learn from her wisdom and experience, even if only by osmosis!

I shared with her that sometimes I felt a little helpless when I thought about all the things I wanted to do with my life, with my time and with my skills: all the ways I wanted to change the world. I feel so passionate about the work that I do with the families I serve that I get frustrated that the day only has 24 hours when I need more like 36 to give my work and my family life all the time they deserve.

Without getting into too much rhetoric about the many ways one can get involved in making the world a better place, my friend shared some of her thoughts on it: she told me that I may be surprise that simply well-placed “votes” can effectively improve the quality of my life and of life on Earth.

Instead of thinking of dollars, words, actions and minutes as such, we can choose to think of them as our very own, personal votes. It hit me that every time we use our money or give our attention to something, we are in effect “voting” for those thoughts, ideas, businesses, products, services or activities, imparting life into them and allowing them to grow. The reverse is also true: when we withhold our money and time from those same things, like a plant without water and food, they eventually wither and fade away for lack of nourishment. We must then “cultivate” and nourish with our very powerful votes those things we want to see grow: our children, our communities, our personal lives.

If we decide as parents, to stop focusing and talking incessantly about how much our child is irritating us and instead, choose to speak about whatever is inspiring, funny, loving about our kids, we start seeing them in a different light: they are not a problem to solve but a life to guide and grow. We are voting for loving relationships with our kids!

What are you voting for today?