Hot yoga this morning. A woman next to me with a blurry tattoo of a quote on her right shoulder. I dismissed it as we began. But as my sweat increased from beads to a torrent and my mindset sharpened, it felt necessary to figure out what was so important that she had put it there, on the back of her shoulder, a place she could never see. A place meant entirely for someone else.

“Do not grieve, rather find strength in that which remains behind.”

When the words finally landed, I knew they were there for me.

Afterwards, as we mopped up the sweat from our mats, she chatted away with the friend she had arrived with. I reached over and gently tapped her leg. Softly, quickly, before I could think twice about it.

Thank you for your quote.

I gestured toward her shoulder.

I really needed that this morning.

And the tears that had been sitting right at the edge came pouring out, competing with the pools of sweat visible on my yoga mat.

She beamed, a little perplexed, and gave me exactly what I needed: space. No hug. No words. Just the quiet grace to let me be.

It hit me later. She didn’t place that quote somewhere she could see it every day. She put it behind her, on her back shoulder, where it lives out of sight. Not a daily mirror. A reminder of what is pushing her forward. The strength at her back. And isn’t that exactly what I need to keep doing? Stop staring at it. Trust that it’s there. Keep moving.

Whatever brought her to make that decision, however many years and lifetimes apart we are, it found me this morning on a sweat soaked mat in a hot room where I had no defenses left.

That is the Godwink. That is the ripple effect in its purest form. A tattooed quote she placed where only strangers could read it. A picture on a t-shirt. A kind word tossed to someone in passing. We have absolutely no idea who we are reaching, or when, or how deeply. But we are always reaching someone. So let it out. Let the muse sing. Live fully, authentically, and without secrets, because the ripple you send out today may be exactly what someone else needs to keep going tomorrow.

You just never know. So let it out anyway.