Never underestimate the difference you can make

“Underestimating the importance of your ability to contribute and the role you could play virtually eliminates any chance you will make a difference in anything” - THM There are many problems in the world around us. If you live here in Kentucky then we can create a list rather quickly of issues that need attention, problems that seem to persist that need addressing and people all around us need encouragement and hope. The value of our individual lives we seem to be have plenty of experience with discarding as useless or considering to be of no value worth sharing with anyone. Nothing could be further from the truth even if we believe we are a waste of time and energy, no one ask for our opinion or thinks we have anything to say. Even if that’s true, pay no attention to what others believe and don’t allow someone else’s thinking to be your driving force in life. YOU MATTER. Your opinion matters and because of your life experiences you have a depth of wisdom from your journey to share. It is possible that one could think more highly of themselves than we should, but flipping the coin to embrace the attitude you have no value is just as destructive. Self value is an approach to self worth that you place on your life. Underestimating this ability places you in a deficient that could be challenging to overcome. Keeping approaches and attitudes in healthy balances makes a big difference in our lives and in our ability to help others. One doesn’t have to know it all, or know everything to be of assistance or an aid to others, but one must be willing to be whatever part we can play to the benefit of others. One important role we can all play is listening. This doesn’t mean listening and multitasking at the same time, this mean stopping what you’re doing and giving them your undivided attention. There is no greater feeling in the world then believing someone cares enough to listen! Imagine the difference if we all took time to be a true listening ear to a friend or even a stranger. Imagine they're self worth from the conversation once you parted ways. Imagine the well being feeling all because we stopped in our travels to give a listening ear to another. The difference that can be made in the lives of others are countless, all because we have confidence in ourselves. Our contributions could be timeless all because we extended a helping hand, aided someone in their distresses, or offered to help, if they were willing to receive our aid. Think about that friend that needs a home cooked meal. The difference that can be made through a meal of encouragement will likely never be forgotten, especially if given to a hungry soul. Consider the opportunity to be a friend to someone that needs real friends. Too often we see someone and who they are running with, but yet we stay away at a safe distance and continue to observe from afar, thinking how dire straight their situation is, yet we remain unengaged. Our ability to contribute is a constantly appearing opportunity. Don’t become immune to the opportunities before you. With each push aside, deflection, or taking our eyes and looking the other way, we dull our senses too moments in which our lives could make all the difference to someone else. In life I’ve discovered that falling into patterns works both ways. You could haver a pattern of good or create a pattern of positive, it doesn’t have to be always negative. This Christmas we should be looking for opportunities to make a difference and we should be looking to create positive patterns as our natural reaction or response. Just imagine the difference we could make if this were true. Until then