Did you know nearly everything gives off some form of radiation? From the ultraviolet we are exposed to daily, to the X-rays we get when injured. Even our bodies have elements essential to our lives that give off radiation. It is a constant part of our life that leaves an imprint, whether brief or lasting.
Radiation may seem like an out of place topic. Recently, I was thinking about how things in our lives seem to leave different impressions on our personality and life. Events, holidays, and even moments give off a radiation that travels through time. I think everyone can recall a song they heard as a child that radiates memories from a distant past into the present.
You can break up radiation into different categories based on how damaging it can be to the body. Ionized Radiation and Non-ionized Radiation. Non-ionized radiation causes vibrations that can heat an object significantly. Ionized radiation has the power to add or subtract electronic from atoms, changing them from neutral to positive or negative.
I feel like non-ionized radiation can be similar to those daily emotions we feel, anger, embarrassment, sadness, etc. They vary on how much they affect the body. One can simply heat the body for a short time, while another can cause major lasting damage. A lot of daily emotions are just that, a daily accurance that eventually fades. Yet these emotions can radiate into other objects that we surround ourselves with at the time. Suddenly, we have music that brings back tears or that meal that hits just right. It is almost as if our emotions are literally radioactive material clinging to things in the immediate vicinity.
On the other hand, Ionized radiation can literally change the way an element works. Sodium can go from being used in table salt to exploding on contact with water simply by changing its charge. Ionized events in our lives literally change us. It’s not just the emotion behind an event. It’s the need internally to move differently. When you hear someone having a change of heart that comes from an Ionized event.
With Easter passing, I realized we exposed ourselves to Ionized events all the time. Easter is an example of a radiant event that changes people every time it passes, yet so many hold up their lead vests to keep the radiation out. How often do we find ourselves refusing to make changes to the good? How much more do we find ourselves hiding away from these life changing events we celebrate every year. Nothing more potent than a birthday where we literally celebrate a year of growth, yet the older we get, the more we bawk at birthdays and bury ourselves in a mountain of lead to avoid changing anything in our lives.
This Easter, I felt the radiation surgery through me. I wondered how long this desire for change would last and how soon life would go back to normal. Then I decided I wanted to make a new normal and the radiation sickness of Easter didn’t have to be a sickness at all, it could be the wave I need to put me back on course to being the man I want to be for my family and myself.
Take a moment. Do you have a big event coming up that will radiate goodness in your life? Can that be the motivation you need? If anything, don’t let your lead pride stop you from making steps towards the success you deserve in life. Ride the wave.
Jacob Gittins 