Note 1
Eric’s Corner
Wednesday-August-27-2025
🌀 Reflections from the Spiral: A Candle Forgets Its Flame.
Wax remembers heat in silence.
Smoke whispers what fire once said.
The candle does not cling to light
It becomes it,
And disappears.
Thank you for turning,
For reading,
For listening,
For spiraling with me,
Eric.
P.S. If this reflection landed with you, I’d love to know. Tap the like button, leave a comment, restack it, share it, subscribe, or just follow along.
Note 2
Eric’s Corner
Wednesday-August-27-2025
🌀 Reflections from the Spiral: The Path Walks You Too.
Feet carve soil,
But soil shapes feet.
Every journey changes the traveler,
And every traveler
Becomes part of the path.
Thank you for turning,
For reading,
For listening,
For spiraling with me,
Eric.
P.S. If this reflection landed with you, I’d love to know. Tap the like button, leave a comment, restack it, share it, subscribe, or just follow along.
Note 3
Eric’s Corner
Wednesday-August-27-2025
🌀 Reflections from the Spiral: Hands Shaped By Holding.
We think we hold objects,
But they hold us too.
The cup leaves its circle in our palm.
The book presses memory into our skin.
Holding is mutual.
Thank you for turning,
For reading,
For listening,
For spiraling with me,
Eric.
P.S. If this reflection landed with you, I’d love to know. Tap the like button, leave a comment, restack it, share it, subscribe, or just follow along.
Note 4
Eric’s Corner
Wednesday-August-27-2025
🌀 Reflections from the Spiral: Shadows Keep Their Own Secrets.
We think we own our shadows,
But they wander when we’re not looking.
They dance on walls,
Stretch across rivers,
Dream where we cannot.
Thank you for turning,
For reading,
For listening,
For spiraling with me,
Eric.
P.S. If this reflection landed with you, I’d love to know. Tap the like button, leave a comment, restack it, share it, subscribe, or just follow along.
Note 5
Eric’s Corner
Wednesday-August-27-2025
🌀 Reflections from the Spiral: Even Stars Must Listen.
Stars burn,
Yet pause for silence.
They listen across galaxies,
Learning what only darkness
Can teach fire.
Thank you for turning,
For reading,
For listening,
For spiraling with me,
Eric.
P.S. If this reflection landed with you, I’d love to know. Tap the like button, leave a comment, restack it, share it, subscribe, or just follow along.
Eric’s Corner
Wednesday-August-27-2025
🌀 Reflections from the Spiral: Influence Without Control, The Ripples We Leave Behind.
We like to believe that influence comes from force, from having power over others, from control, from directing outcomes. But influence is rarely so straightforward. It is subtler, quieter, and often unintentional. We leave ripples by simply existing, moving, speaking, and even remaining silent.
Think of a stone dropped into a pond. The stone does not command the water. It does not direct how far the ripples will go, or which shore they will reach. The act of entering the water is enough to set movement in motion. Influence is like that. We may not control it, but it happens anyway.
This realization carries both humility and responsibility. Humility, because it reminds us that not everything is ours to manage. We cannot dictate all the outcomes of our actions. Responsibility, because it reminds us that even small gestures, a word spoken in haste, a kindness left unfinished, an encouragement given at the right time, can echo far beyond our sight.
Often we underestimate influence because we measure it only in grand scales: revolutions, inventions, fame. But influence is just as real in the quiet exchanges of daily life. The teacher who smiled instead of scolded. The stranger who held open a door. The friend who remembered to check in. These moments plant seeds. And seeds, given time, reshape landscapes.
The paradox of influence is that we can neither fully control it nor escape it. Our presence always ripples outward. To live mindfully, then, is to attend to the quality of the ripples we set in motion. Not perfect control, but conscious participation.
There is freedom in this, too. If we cannot guarantee the result, then we can focus more on the intention. What is the spirit behind what we offer the world? Is it bitterness or generosity? Is it fear or courage? The ripples will carry whatever we give them.
And influence is not a one-way street. Just as we ripple outward, we are constantly shaped by the ripples of others. Some arrive gently. Some strike like waves. Some we notice, others act on us invisibly. To live is to be influenced and to influence in return, a dance of cause and effect, endlessly weaving.
The challenge Is not to grasp tighter, but to walk lighter. To remember that we don’t need to control the pond to make ripples worth leaving. That what we give today may reach shores we never see, and that the smallest kindness may echo longer than the loudest command.
In the end, influence is not about leaving monuments. It is about leaving traces of presence that matter, to someone, somewhere, somehow. Even if we never know.
Thank you for turning,
For reading,
For listening,
For spiraling with me,
Eric.
P.S. If this reflection landed with you, I’d love to know. Tap the like button, leave a comment, restack it, share it, subscribe, or just follow along.
