I believe in energy, firmly, in the way our thoughts, our words, and our actions affect not only ourselves but each other. I believe we have a limited amount of energy to use each day and that how we expend that energy is crucial to our happiness. I believe in positivity.

We have the power to impact other people, and they have the power to impact even more people. It’s a chain reaction, and maybe it starts with you or with me or with us.

Take this video of The Lion King Broadway Cast singing “The Circle of Life” on an airplane in 2014. I recently stumbled upon it and made the mistake of reading the comments on Facebook, shocked to find they were equally positive and negative. “They’re so loud.” “No one wants to listen to them when they’re on an airplane.” “That’s so rude.” “What if someone has a headache?”

When I watched the video, I saw children mesmerized and people leaning into the aisle to watch with smiles on their faces. What a magical, once in a lifetime experience this would be, and yet some people could not see the beauty in it. It was simply three minutes of singing during the boarding process from arguably some of the most talented performers in the world. It was meant to make people happy.

We all have bad moods and bad days, and it’s understandable to feel negative sometimes. However, our negativity spreads, as our words and our actions hurt. If I interact with two people and share negative energy with them, think about how many people they may interact with. Think about how quickly my negativity can spread to other people. Now imagine the opposite. How much of an impact can positivity make?

We live in a society that thrives on negativity. Want proof? Read Facebook comments and news stories. Listen to your peers at school or your coworkers at the office. Watch yourself. Do you find complaints and problems, or compliments and praise?

I was talking to my mother once, and we were discussing positive and negative reactions to different actions. My favorite example from that conversation was this: imagine you are in a parking lot, about to go into a store, and you watch someone leave a shopping cart in a parking spot nearby. You may be thinking, “Wow, what an inconsiderate jerk.” You may even want to yell at them and call them out. And while yes, sometimes pointing out what they did wrong can make change, other times it just leaves you feeling angry.

Rather than fight someone and work yourself up, use your energy to think, “That wasn’t a very nice thing to do, but I’ll just bring the shopping cart into the store with me.” Suddenly, you’re not frustrated about the person who left the cart but are happy to have been able to help out. A worker would have had to retrieve the cart, and you were able to make their job slightly easier today. It may seem minute and unnecessary, but small acts do wonders. Trust me.

I am not perfect, not by any means.

But this is something I have worked so hard to improve upon in the past few years. Training myself to be positive is not just about myself; it is about everyone else, as well. If nothing else, I want my legacy in this world to be that I was able to leave small doses of positive energy everywhere I went, that I was able to find the best in the worst of situations. It may take my whole life to achieve, but it’s a journey I am ready to take. And maybe, just maybe, you’ll join me.