There is no better joy than that, that comes from giving. You do not need to have so much to give. Contrary to popular belief, we all have something to offer to someone out there that is in need for just that!
Even something as simple as a smile, a hug, a little pat on the shoulder could be the thing you give that could help turn another person’s day around.
We attach so much meaning to material, we sometimes forget that the most beautiful feelings we get to experience as humans beings cannot be equated to any thing tangible. None of it is tangible. Love, kindness, forgiveness, healing, emotional support, name it…..
Gratitude is alot of time equated to emotion. It’s not what you give, it’s how it makes them feel.
I know for sure I don’t want anyone to give me the “whole wide world” if they’re going to make me feel so low and stupid and are going to wear the hero complex of “if it wasn’t for me…. Or the I did it for you”
But if someone with a genuine giving heart gives something even as simple as their time, at a moment in my life where I really need it, they will have a piece of my heart.
On a long haul flight years ago with two extremely exhausted little girls, a young woman let one of my girls lay her head on her lap to nap. Oh I was desperate and exhausted! I was desperate for her to sleep on that flight because the alternative was crying and screaming. But see, there was another baby in my arms. Another tired baby in the arms of a burnt out mother.
To this day, am grateful! Am grateful to that girl, I bet she even remembers the act of kindness. But everyday I pray for her and I try to act like she did because when I think of her, I remember me, in that moment then. In a moment when I was desperate for compassion, desperate for support and understanding, a stranger offered me just that. My situation may not sound desperate to another but any parent that has taken a long haul flight with a baby under 1 and another that is just over 2 will perhaps understand. But the most important thing is the stranger that saw a mom that needed help and offered her lap for a little girl to lay on. That right there is who I aspire to be each morning when I wake up. Not that the world is not as sad and constantly trying to squeeze out the warmth in me. But I believe it is forever important to not stop trying.
So… Giving season is on, isn’t it? We all could make a difference. A meal for a child or a shirt to cover their back, perhaps the stuff laying around our homes that we never really use could be the thing that the other person most desperately needs. Most importantly, love and kindness do not cost a thing but dont we all need them!
What would you rather? A stranger say goodmorning to you or just walk by you as we often times do to them as well? If your answer to this is , I dont even care, I know. Neither do I. When I leave home, I do not go out with expectations of people I do not know am going to cross paths with either. But I can tell you, that each stranger I pass by that whispers a morning greeting to me, leaves a smile on my face, so I try to be them. To say goodmorning to other strangers that left home with no expectations from me either. The point is not that we must say goodmorning which by the way, I think we should. The point is that kindness is little things like smiling briefly at a stranger when you cross paths. You’d be surprised at how easy it is to be kind, to be warm towards another, even those that are seemingly undeserving of it. And you’d be surprised at how much of an impact we all can make with just a simple smile.
We are not just a bunch walking around and bumping into one another. Well, we could be, or we could be more. And can all be alone but again, we do not have to be.
The key to kindness is the ability to imagine ourselves in the other person’s shoes. Do unto others as you’d have done to you!
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