"It's nice to be nice to the nice" a Joe-ism (my husband has a lot!)
"You'll get more with Honey than you do Vinegar" a favorite quote of my dad's...
Is it just me or is the world getting more and more rude, mean and just... not nice? Stories of on line bullying abound, - have you tried to change lanes on a highway lately or merge ~ Driver road rage has a whole new meaning ??? Does anyone say; Please and Thank You anymore? ... everyone seems to have a grimace on their faces. With all the technology of IPhones that supposedly keep us connected 24/7, we're Not "CONNECTED" anymore!
I would get flustered if I didn't get through the cashier line quickly enough because I had 3 more things on my to do list and would catch myself saying, "How are you," but not even pausing long enough to hear a response. I didn't like running through life like this...
So I implemented a personal endeavor: Friendly Friday over a year ago. On Friday's, I would do something nice for someone, Perhaps I'd send a card, make a call to a friend I hadn't talked to in a while and LISTEN. Bring baked cookies to my office neighbor, go to lunch with a friend (yes, actually stop working and eating at my desk to actually go to lunch!) ... I would extend to people I didn't know too, like drop off food at the container at the grocer, drop change in a container instead of walking by, Help someone open those huge heavy doors at a store or simply smile at a stranger. I'd say thank you more often, look someone in the eye when I spoke and paused to be in the moment. At first I would write in my gratitude journal the things that I did and smile that no one knew what I was up to... and with each week, the list would increase, then I'd find I wasn't holding out until Friday... a funny thing happened along the way, I was happier, I was more polite, I was more connected.
Oh I get caught in the hamster wheel of life, but I added "Friendly Fridays" on my outlook calendar as a weekly reminder and before too long I'm back to my happy ways.
Try it...
Too often we underestimate the power of a touch, a smile, a kind word, a listening ear, an honest compliment, or the smallest act of caring, all of which have the potential to turn a life around. ~Leo Buscaglia
Kind hearts are the gardens,
Kind thoughts are the roots,
Kind words are the blossoms,
Kind deeds are the fruits.
~19th century rhyme used in primary schools
Be kind whenever possible. It is always possible. ~Tenzin Gyatso, 14th Dalai Lama
