Intentional Impact
I traveled to Zimbabwe to learn more about the Friendship Bench model—but what I found had a far greater impact than I anticipated.
Yes, I learned from community volunteers sitting on literal benches, listening and supporting people with compassion and dignity. But I also discovered a culture of care that integrates Reiki, reflexology, acupuncture, and EFT/Tapping—modalities often dismissed or labeled “alternative” here at home. In Zimbabwe, they aren’t fringe. They’re frontline.
That made me reflect on our offerings at the Momentum Center.
We have always been open to these practices, but we haven’t been intentional about inviting people in to learn about them, try them, and connect with the practitioners who offer them. So I gathered some of those practitioners together and we had a powerful conversation—not just about what we offer, but what we call it. We decided not to use the word “alternative.” Words like that carry judgment. They frame healing practices as “not normal,” even when we know they can change—sometimes even save—lives. That’s why we decided ot call ourselves the Wellbeing Collective. A name that reflects what these practices are: inclusive, accessible, whole.
This focus on words—and how we use them—brought me to another reflection on impact. Sometimes it’s easy to see: my grandson’s sheer delight when I agree to play Monopoly with him – again. But other times, our impact goes unnoticed—until someone reminds us, like in Taylor Bertolini’s TEDx Talk The Power of Words, or Mohammed Qahtani’s powerful Toastmasters speech of the same name. A kind word or a careless comment, a warm smile or a distracted glance—they all carry weight. They all matter.
Impact isn’t always about big programs or public platforms. It’s in the tone we use, the presence we bring, the spaces we create. It’s in what we choose to say—and what we choose to be silent about. The world is crying out for us to be intentional. Because whether we realize it or not, we are always having an impact.
There is a framework that we can bring to being intentional about our impact. John Kroneck, Reiki Master and author of Reiki Energetics, suggests a three-fold path: Stillness, Presence, and Kindness. Can we intentionally embrace the stillness as a way to center and ground ourselves? From that place of internal peace, can we be intentionally present in our own lives and in our interactions with others? And when we have a choice between being right and being kind, can we intentionally choose kindness?
Because right now the world desperately needs more kindness.
Our choices, our priorities, our way of being impact us internally and shape the way we operate in the world. And the way we operate in this world impacts everything around us. Impact ripples. It begins with me and leads to a collective impact. The world doesn't get kinder unless I am kinder. But when I am kinder, when I am more loving and compassionate, the world is infused with more kindness, more love, more compassion. We all get better together.
The Momentum Center started as a dream, that we could create a place where compassion always has the last say. Now it has structure—concrete, steel, and spirit. It requires enormous resources: time, emotional energy, money, care. So it better be working.
And it is. Because you are part of it. You’ve chosen to engage, support, question, trust. That choice—your choice—has impact.
So let’s keep asking the deeper question. Not just “Is it working?”
Am I paying attention to how I affect others—by what I say, by what I do, by what I choose not to do?
Am I showing up in a way that truly matters?
Namaste,
Barbara Lee VanHorssen
Experi-Mentor
Barbara@MomentumCenterGH.org
