you get what you give

I don't want to get all karmic, but I do believe what you put out into the universe you then receive. You get what you give. What goes around comes around. Put your right foot in, take your right foot out.

Today I went to an association management seminar. jealous? (read a la Stewie from Family Guy). I put myself out there. I answered questions posed to the group. I challenged the speakers, I lead discussions at my table of peers. And out of it I connected with a marketing person from a trade association in DC who is going to share all of his membership marketing pieces and strategies with me. Almost a years worth of ideas for simply being present and active.

But does this networking hokey-pokey translate into real (non-work) life? I think so. Does it mean I will only lead a good life if I do good deeds for others? Not necessarily, but I don't think it hurts.

I often see people looking confused on the street with maps or staring up at the 'el with a blank look on their face. I offer to help them. I try to be sure they are headed in the right direction. I think acts like these are repaid when the cowboy who sees me fall flat on my on the sidewalk, picks me and my dinner up. It is repaid by the person who holds the door open for me so I can catch the morning train.

My Dad used to coach me in tennis. He would say, "Visualize hitting the ball. Imagine yourself hitting the ball. A director will often talk about your "mind's eye". These both are referencing the power of positive images. How does this position thinking relate to positive acts in the universe? I need to noodle on this more, but something is going on here.

Don't worry, I am still a cynic, just a philosophical cynic.