Seeing The Beauty: The Ripple Effect of Love in Action

In this heartfelt Shower Sprinkle, I share a powerful reminder about what happens when we slow down enough to truly see the beauty around us.

After visiting a school where students poured love into handmade gifts for hospitalized children, I witnessed something that deeply moved me — kids speaking love over blankets, creating cards filled with encouragement, and serving others with open hearts and pure intention. The experience became a living example of how love spreads, multiplies, and transforms lives through small acts of kindness.

This episode is an invitation to shift your focus away from negativity, comparison, and distraction… and instead open your eyes to the beauty already present in your life, your community, and within yourself.

Because when you choose love, you don’t just change your own day — you start a ripple effect that reaches farther than you’ll ever see.

In this episode:

• The hidden beauty we overlook every day
• What children naturally understand about love and connection
• Why where you focus your attention shapes your reality
• How small acts of kindness create powerful impact
• The truth about loving yourself first so love can overflow outward

✨ Today’s gentle challenge:
Open your eyes. Look for the beauty. Be the ripple.

You can find me at:
https://www.instagram.com/cataton/
https://www.facebook.com/casey.taton/

You can find what sparks me at:
https://www.facebook.com/share/g/1AgeRtyojY/
https://www.instagram.com/lmbdcelebrations/

Music by: Jason and Ashley Scheufler
Artwork by:  https://www.instagram.com/graphx_ink/

Transcript

0:00

You know that feeling when you look around and there's just pure beauty in the world everywhere, like you're just glowing. Everything is just perfectly beautiful. Your eyes are seeing beautiful things. You just felt so fully alive in your body? When was the last time you had that feeling? Hey friends. Welcome to the Enter Spark podcast. I'm your host, Casey Caton. If you're looking to hear stories of transformation and personal growth, this podcast is for you. My guest and I will be sharing those sparking moments that has changed the mental living a more fulfilling authentic life. I'm so excited for you to hear each unique story. So sit back, relax, and let's get started. Hey friends. Welcome back to the UN Respect Podcast. This is a shower sprinkle with yours, truly, Casey, I wanna talk about last week's episode was really about listening to people and really just hearing people. This week I wanna talk about something that happened. It was really my heart just lit up on every bit of love and open-heartedness and just witnessing and seeing what was happening. I have been out to a school to speak and this was my second time. They invited me out and I'm gonna be honest, i've been having these weird feelings about the parties. Am I doing enough? Am I doing them right? How can we move things? And it's been a year of reflection and I've really been doing that and I've really been like turning off my phone and like just seeing the power of not scrolling. Like I don't wanna feel that way. I only wanna see the beauty in the world. I'm gonna be honest, this is probably gonna offend some people. And I don't really care and I don't watch the news. I am aware of what's going on, but I don't wanna hear all the negative that's happening. I want my heart to be full because this is why there's so much freaking beauty happening in my own world and my own community. And then I get to get on calls and I get to see it happening all over the world and the communities that I'm in. It's just truly beautiful and it's where you focus and where you put your energy. So let me go back to what happened this week. I, the second time out to the school, I spoke first time in my heart. I was so excited, I cried. I got the best welcome introduction from. One of the teachers, there is also a mom, of one of the kids that I've got to help with our parties, and that's what I was out there to speak about was little moments, big dreams, celebrations. It lights my heart up, and she got to introduce me to the kids that I was speaking to. Didn't know she was gonna introduce me. It was just the last minute she introduced me. And it was just such a heartfelt, warm moment when I was out there and. This was actually before Christmas. I remember leaving there thinking, oh my goodness, these kids are amazing. These kids there's just something about these kids. I remember opening the cards and they made Christmas cards and it's a bilingual school, and so they made some in Spanish, some posters in Spanish and some in English for me, which is super cool because I don't know Spanish. And so to have these kids do this for me was just amazing. And to be able to give them out at Christmas, it was like the best feeling. And it made these people, these kids feel seen. Like we actually see you. And I got to tell'em other kids made these just for you. That's the best feeling. I didn't make'em, other kids made them for you. So I got to read these cards. They made some other things. They tied blankets for us. They've done a bunch for us. It's just a beautiful school. And I go out to a bunch of different schools and this school just, there's something about it. The things they wrote in the cards were, you're enough, you're worthy. Shine your light. And to hear this coming from kids was just breathtaking for me. Like it seriously caught me in my fills when I was reading these cards when I got home. You're enough, you're so loved. You're worthy. You're going to heal. You're gonna feel better. We're sending you love, just so much kindness in a card. And I'm gonna be honest, sometimes when I go out and I do community service at schools, they don't always wanna do it. Sometimes kids are just doing community service because they need the hours. I always say, I say it every time I speak to a school. Every time I speak to an organization or group, I say, please do this with love. Please open your heart and pour love into this, whatever that means for you. I just ask you to just take away everything in your brain right now, what you could be doing and just say, I'm giving back to somebody who could really use it, and this is my way of connecting with them. So this week I actually went live on my Instagram just talking about really. Where am I showing up and why am I hiding myself? And it was just, I was in, in a community call with, my mentor, Kathy Heller. A friend Sarah raised her hand, or one of the ladies in the group. She told her story, and it just, it just hit me, why am I playing small? Why am I afraid to say my opinions? I disagree with a lot of people, but you know what? That's what makes the world goes around is that we're all so different. We're all these unique puzzle pieces, and that's what makes the world so magical. And so. This week I go out to the school and I felt unprepared and I have a, presentation, I didn't get to show it last time'cause they only have a short amount of time. These kids are actually doing it during their lunch break, which is just, they're giving up their lunch break. They're eating really fast to do it during this time. And so, right as soon as I walk in the building, it's just this feeling of like, ah, and I get greeted with, hello Ms. Casey. May I help you? May I take your bag? May I carry this for you? You know, and they guide me through the hallways and they say, I'm sorry, the hallways get a little crazy. I'm like, oh, there's kids. It's passing. Period. No worries. And the kids are seeing me and leaving at me. And here's the thing, just the acknowledgement from these children lit my heart up. So we go up and we're sitting there and these kids, we can't get the PowerPoint to play. And I just thought, you know what? It's the second time I've been here, maybe they're not meant to see this. So I got to show them some pictures on my phone and we get them all doing their thing. And I tell them like, Hey, remember when we're making things, make it with love. And so they were actually doing things for, what I got to do today was Valentine's Day. So when you're hearing this, this will actually be Valentine's Day and I got to drop off the stuff today. We had did Valentine's Day at St. Francis Hospital and some, some of them made posters, they made some heart cutouts. Another group tied tide blankets for us and another group, did some banners and they were just all doing different things. And I was talking to one of the students and I could see the teacher, I'm looking up at her and or she said something, and so it kind of made noise. I look up over here and like tears are running down her face and so I look up from these two young ladies I'm talking to and I look up and there's a group that had tied this blanket and they are just speaking love over this blanket. And every single one of'em is saying something, and they're not worried about what that girl next to him or that boy next to him may say, or may think they're just pouring their love until they just finish tying this blanket and they know that a kid is going to receive it. It got me. Tears rolled down my face. The teacher had tears rolling down her face and. It truly just hit my heart of there is beauty everywhere. These kids are so grateful to be helping me. Isn't that a gift to see kids wanna help other kids and when you're opening your eyes to see the beauty in your world, it was just pure beauty. To watch'em all serve, to watch'em do this, and to be excited about what they know is going to go to the hospital this week. They all thanked me. They carried my bags out. They asked how they could continue helping me. You know, they just thanked me for what I do and just thanked me for, let, thanked me for letting them be a part of this and them saying That really got my heart because. Not every kid does this. It's like, here's my community service. I'm done. I did it. Can you check me off my hours? So these kids knew. They couldn't say, I'm praying for you and were right and praying for you because we respect everybody's religion. But they spoke words of love over a blanket without even being prompted to. They just did it. They showed me the posters they made. They showed me what they put in Spanish for Valentine's Day. I left with such a full heart. Four girls walked me out to my car and helped me get all my stuff in my car and thanked me, and they hugged me and each kid just came up and said something so nice to me before I left. And I'm like, this is the beauty. We're missing The beauty. And. In our own communities. It's right here in front of our eyes and we're not being willing to open to see it. I get in my car and I look out on the playground and there was these kids out there playing soccer. It was a nice day. I finally warmed up here in Kansas, like I think it was like in the sixties. And I watch this kid fall down and I watched another kid go over and grab his hand and help him up off the ground. And I thought, man. This is the life. These kids know it. These kids are truly seeing the beauty and just spreading the love everywhere. Today I got to go to the hospital for Valentine's Day and I got to go to some rooms that some kids they'll be spending the night, be in there on Valentine's Day. And I got to tell these kids, we also, I had some Rosas that I made from another school, and so I got to tell these kids. Hey, these roses were made from another school. These were made from these posters and these things were made from another kids, but they were made from kids in your community. And then of course we had gifts. We gave them some candy, you know, just the Valentine's. We wanted them to feel like, you know, they're missing their school Valentine and they're missing their friend Valentine, whatever they do. We wanted to make them feel like kids today. Take away the fear, take away the scare, and bring them a smile. And we got to do that. And it wasn't about here. This is from us. It was like here, this is from other kids. Other kids made these roses because you can't have real flowers in your room. Other kids made these happy Valentine's Day posters to decorate your room with other kids. Made these little cutout hearts that had things so we could put all over your room. It was so beautiful and these kids that we got to spend the time with today were just a gift. And so grateful and the smiles and you know that being in the hospital is hard and there's sometimes not a lot of smiles. And we got to see the biggest smiles today and it was just a blessing. And I just sat and thought, and I'm like. This is truly what life is about. Opening your eyes and seeing the beauty. And I know that people don't always do it because we live in a world that's so on our phones, on our doing this onto the next thing. We're listening to politics. We're seeing what's happening in other places. We're discussing politics and we're getting in arguments over it. Why? What if you open your eyes to see the beauty in that person and say, oh, that's their opinion. Okay, cool. Let's move on. Or you open your eyes today every single morning and you say, you know, one of my mentors says you open your eyes and you just say, you know, God, I'm the vessel. I'm the light. Just shine the light and let me open my heart and be the vessel of light today. Wherever I'm supposed to be. It's the right place at the right time. Whoever I touch, whoever I meet, I just can't wait to see what surprises and delights me every single day and not every day goes like this for me, that's a hundred percent honesty. And I was really struggling a couple weeks ago, and this week has just been such a turning point of, and some of the reason I'm struggling is because I don't know how to say this. Because I know it's an unpopular opinion to say I don't watch much tv. I don't. I don't wanna talk about politics. I don't wanna talk about negative. I have friends posting pictures of their worlds burning down. What are you doing to see the beauty right here? You're wasting your days when you can see the beauty in front of you when you can help and serve others right around you, in your own community. Why would you do that? Why would you not open your eyes? You'll see it's right in front of you and that you can be the difference. It truly hurts my heart, and I know people say, I can't believe it. I can't believe you don't do this. I can't believe you're not on these platforms. I'm not. I'm not. I don't wanna spend my time scrolling. I've put down my phone so many times this week and just turned it off or left it on and said, Hey, not available for calls during these hours. Not available for this, not gonna scroll. And when I do scroll, a lot of times I see only positive stuff because that's what I feed my brain with and I surround myself with the positive people because that's what I know that this world is capable of. I also know the love starts within us and when we can be the light and the vessel and spread the love to me with spreading the love to these kids this week, and just openheartedly sharing what I do and what I love. These kids got to share the love back. And then we gotta take it to the hospital and spread more love. And it's just the ripple effect of how it goes on. We are surrounded with love. If you are open and willing to see everybody as your own unique person and just sit back and listen without judgment, without putting anything against him, I don't care what you believe in politics, I don't. Whatever you wanna say is fine. What I wanna say is, Hey, what can you do today to make your day better? To bring joy and that open-hearted love into this world? And how can you help someone else do it? And how can we create that ripple effect right here in our own community? So start doing it today. It's happening everywhere. I work out at a gym and we all have different views, but you know what we do? We all go there for one thing to make our bodies feel good. This is just an example of what I do every morning. We all have different things. We all have different views on different things, and yet we all still love each other. And we all cheer each other on. And the most loving, caring weight is we don't care how much weight is on your bar and how much weight is on your bar, whatever weight is on your bar, if that's what you did, and that's what you're proud of, we are proud of you too. And it's not getting into this, well, she does this for her career. She believes in this or she thinks this. It's not about any of that. It's not about it. I don't care. My job is, is to love myself so I can allow overflow and once I can allow myself to just fully love myself, I can share the love everywhere else. And it's just the overflow effect of, it's just the love just keeps going and going and going. And speaking of that. I realized today on Friday, February 13th, exactly 11 years ago, I had my first surgery for my condition. Median arcuate ligament syndrome, MALS for short. And this is malls awareness month. The day is coming up soon. And I was like, you know, that is something I used to be ashamed of. I would not show my scar. And now I love myself enough to say, wow, it's been 11 years since my first surgery. And I get to show my scars off as a piece of love, as a piece of me, a piece of my body that I love. And it's just so amazing you guys. And it just hit me today that it has exactly been 11 years since my first surgery, and I just am so grateful and so thankful that I got to have these surgeries and that I'm alive, and that I'm living and I'm thriving, and that I get to do the work that God called me to do. I get to be this open vessel. I get to go out and serve, and I get to see the beauty everywhere. But you have to start loving yourself. Start loving others with an open heart, with no judgment. Turn off the damn news and start doing something in your own community to help others. And seeing the beauty outside, whether it's walking outside and sitting on your front porch and just saying, man. Look at those trees. Look at those birds. Isn't it gorgeous? Life is so freaking beautiful, and it just lit me up this week, and this was not the episode I was gonna put out, but I just couldn't help but stop and talk about it because I don't care what others think. I'm gonna talk about my health journey. I'm gonna talk about the things I don't, I don't do the things I don't care to hear about. The one thing I care to hear about is how we can all love and accept each other and make a difference, a positive difference, and touch other people's hearts. That is what I care about. All right. Thanks for listening to this shower sprinkle. It's Valentine's Day. Go love yourself. Go love everybody else. Spread the love. See the love out in the world. See the beauty out in the world. That's truly what it's about. It's just opening your eyes, taking off those wines and opening your eyes and fully feeling the love, and seeing the love and beauty at everything you do and everywhere you go. So I encourage you. To try that Thanks for tuning in. Thank you for tuning into another episode. I hope today's story inspired you to embrace your own journey of growth and change. Remember, transformation isn't always easy, but it's always worth it. If you enjoyed this episode, be sure to subscribe. Share it with a friend, and leave a review. If you found something that sparked you in this episode and may spark a friend, I encourage you to go share with them. If you have your own story you would like to share, I would love to hear it. So please reach out to me. Until next time, friends, go have some fun and let those sparks lie.