What is the Ripple Effect?
The ripple effect is the continuing or spreading results of an action or an event. It’s also what happens two, three, five steps ahead of your choices right now. There is always a ripple effect happening. We’re literally making ripples right now. Our ripple effect can obviously ripple positively or negatively.
How Does the Ripple Effect Play Out?
Everything that you do right now is a ripple later on. It can manifest as influence, imitation, emotional contagion, energy, and moods of others affect us in groups. All it takes is one person, and that ripples. This is why it’s so essential for us to be incredibly mindful of all of our actions because every action turns into a ripple effect. After all, we’re so human, we just imitate each other, and we just get influenced by each other so much. Your emotions are contagious, so we just have to be so incredibly aware of the ripple effect.
What is an Internal Ripple Effect?
When we feel triggered, we experience an internal ripple effect. It starts with a response to a situation or event. So something happens, and then the first thing you have is an emotion. Okay, that’s the response. Now that emotion leads to a feeling. Let’s say you get turned down from a job offer. What’s the first thing you do? You have an emotion. This leads to a feeling, “Oh, I feel defeated.” This leads to a thought, “I’m never going to be able to find a job. I’m not good enough. I’m not cut out for this.” This leads to behaviors and actions that can positively or negatively affect your whole ecosystem, your family, your community, your friends, your environment, all of that. It goes from event, emotion, feeling, thought, belief, behavior. That now turns into mood and personality. So then, over time, it becomes your identity.
Your Future Self is Your Present Self
Your future self is your present self. What’s gonna happen later is already happening now. What’s going to happen in 2025 is literally happening at this moment. That’s why whenever people are like, “Oh, I need to wait until this thing happens” or “I need to see what happens first,” it’s like, dude, you’re controlling your destiny, literally, at that moment.
Why do you have to wait to see what’s going to happen with your destiny? That means that you think that you’re not in control. You’re always in control. Your destiny is now. The whole point of talking about what happens down the line is to become more and more healthy now.
What Causes Negative Ripples?
I try to avoid these behaviors as much as possible because any time I do one of these things, I will create a negative ripple effect. I’m going to have to now clean up the consequences.
- Being triggered and going into your story and narrative
- Projecting your insecurities onto other people
- Ghosting, being unresponsive, silent treatment
- Not setting boundaries, over committing yourself
- Reacting to emotions and letting them spiral out of control
- Negative thoughts about yourself
- Overthinking and perfectionism
- Spiraling into blame and shame
- Shutting down and running away
This is what I consider dysfunctional behaviors.
How to Create Positive Ripples
How do we create positive ripples?
- Get in your body regularly. When you get in your body regularly, you become more aware of all the things you feel, preventing adverse internal ripple effects.
- Be aware of scarcity thinking, recognize your triggers, zoom out and look at the truth. Get super proficient at knowing your needs and your worth, express appreciation and gratitude.
- Communication so that you’re not hurting yourself and other people in the process.
- Be vulnerable, celebrate your wind, apologize, take radical responsibility, do things on purpose from your highest vibration.