The Deceptively Simple Sentence Helping Me Radiate Good Karma Daily

“It’s the simple things in life that are the most extraordinary; only wise men are able to understand them.”
— Paulo Coelho, The Alchemist

Recently, one such simple sentence revealed its extraordinary glory.

A sentence we’ve all heard in some shape or form. A saying easy to dismiss as a feel-good cliche. A string of simple, innocent words.

But so deep are its implications that it’s now my life’s guiding light. It goes…

“Leave Every Thing, Person, and Place Better than You Found Them.”

Let’s dissect it part by part to understand its hidden nuances:

• “Leave Every” — alludes to Buddha’s Law Of Impermanence Aniccā. Nude at birth to bones in death, we leave everything — and everything leaves us. But this “gloomy” truth has a positive underbelly — that we’ll explore.
• “Every Thing, Person, and Place (TP&P) Better” — implies unconditional “on-the-fly” altruism. Implicit is a simple strategy (I’ll share) for effective altruism without self-sacrifice.
• “Than You Found Them” — aka serendipitous “non-commital” help. This is more realistic, sustainable, and effective than “out of your way” altruism — we’ll soon see why.

P.S. For the sake of brevity, we’ll henceforth use the acronym “TP&P” to refer to “Thing, Person, and Place.”

Each part has further nuances and practical implications — that the rest of this article will flesh out. I’ll also share 9 actionable ways to implement them daily.

This isn’t about world-changing activism or self-sacrificing altruism…

This is realistic “selfless-improvement” that puts your own “self-improvement” on steroids.

In a self-exemplar way, this article will strive to “leave you better than it found you.”

Let’s dive right in.

The Paradoxical Positive Power of “Leave Every”

“Isn’t Buddha’s Aniccā depressing and nihilistic in a way?”, I’d asked my Vipassana teacher.

The next evening, I experienced the answer.

As the motionless meditation of Adhiṭṭhāna was underway, my knees screamed in pain.

Staying equanimous, I observed the sensations. I saw how impermanent they were — rising and passing with blurring rapidity. Like a sine wave sped up to be 10000000x faster.

My body, beating heart, and the barking mongrel were all Aniccā! Massive armies of cells dying and regenerating at blinding speeds — our body replaces 3.8 million cells per second!

Experiencing this flux drove it home more than any biology class did.

As my meditation and exhilaration ended, a strong unconditional love arose — an urge to serve and treasure every living being.

Lasting 40 minutes, that love imprinted insights for a lifetime.