Shine on

Vincent Van Patten
Sep 9, 2018 · 3 min read

This past year of my life has flown by quicker than I could have imagined, having learned more about myself just by noticing connections with the people around me — the effect I have on them, and them on me.

Last week, I heard a quote which applies to my life now more than ever. I feel it sums up the ying and yang of the connection which we all share.

“There are two types of people in this world… Those who give energy to others, and those who take it.”

This stuck with me.


I’m committed to make this a central theme in my life, to be somebody who gives energy to the life around me.

Our world is a constant flow of energy which connects each of us to our surroundings. The energy we share with others, the energy we share with the natural world, the energy we create in our own bodies that make us do what we do every day.

It takes energy just to get out of bed in the morning, and often throughout the day, we run out of fuel. We must surround ourselves with people who replenish us, who add fuel to our fire and fill us up with light when it seems difficult to do it ourselves.

The natural world flows with beautiful, intangible energy. As the season begins to change and the leaves begin to fall, the air becomes a bit crisper as the morning mist lingers and fogs our windows. That feeling of replenishment when one walks outside early on a cool autumn morning and takes a deep breath, that breath can make one feel alive again. We have the ability to give others that feeling every day, to replenish their souls with kindness and a sheer curiosity.

Something as simple as getting into an elevator and asking somebody how their day has been. We never truly know how one question will impact somebody else’s life. However, there’s a struggle in all of us to find the courage to be uncomfortable, to ask that question of a stranger. Why is this?

Perhaps we’re too preoccupied thinking of ourselves, where we need to be, what we’ll be doing in two hours, this weekend, we lose sight of simply what is in front of us. There’s a connection waiting to be tapped into by two people. It goes unnoticed, unused.

The Roman Emperor Marcus Aurelius was somebody who strove to live his life in perfect stillness every day. He did this by focusing all of his energy on the current moment. If he didn’t, the world around him would crumble.

“If you can cut free of impressions that cling to the mind,” he said, “free of the future and the past — you can make yourself, as Empedocles says, ‘a sphere rejoicing in its perfect stillness,’ then you can spend the time you have left in tranquility. And kindness. And at peace with the spirit within you.”

Sometimes I wake up in the morning and I’m afraid to get up. It’s intimidating to get back up and face the world another day. My bed is cold and crisp and I want nothing more than to stay there and hide.

We must get up, we must keep fighting, we must be the light that others can count on when their fire burns low. Be somebody who gives energy, someone who fills others up with little acts of kindness and caring. Every day.

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