[The following is an excerpt from Life is Too Short for Sensible Shoes. Purchase links found below]
“Recently, on a Monday before a very large week-long conference where I was speaking, as well as the first week of school for my children (translation: running around like a psychotic blind dodo bird), I was about to leave the grocery store parking lot when a woman came running up to my car. “Did you just put a cart away?” she said. My son had, so my first thought was, whose car did we hit? Instead she said, “I think your wallet is still in there.
WHAT A WOMAN! She had no idea what that meant to me; that I didn’t have time that day to come back later for a wallet as we had major things going on throughout the afternoon and evening. Also, that I wouldn’t have noticed the missing wallet until the next day, when I would need gas because I was nearly on empty, and was running late for speaking.
On this note, I was also reading Amanda Dickson’s great book, Wake Up to a Happier Life, and she talked about this, taking a moment to do a kind thing, even just to say thank you to someone. She was at Costco, as all good shopper women are occasionally, getting chicken enchiladas. As she reached in to take one she saw the woman who likely had made them, wearing a hair net and exhausted expression. Amanda mouthed, “Thank you,” and wonderfully this woman experienced an immediate shift in her feelings and countenance.
It really is the little things, the taking three seconds to simply smile, say thank you, or say, “go ahead” when you’re standing in line. These civilities and courtesies are what make our days soft and round, that take the edge out of the seemingly endless to-dos.
Just for this week, I invite you to be aware of the available Kind Moments – smiling at someone who is rude, not telling a friend how another person was a pill, praying in the morning to know whom you can love. Look in someone’s eyes, see their story and share a kind word. I’m sure I’m preaching to the choir here, but it was a great reminder I needed. Look for the love, do the kind thing and bask in the joy!
