Caring is Contagious
It can be distracting for me to enthuse about so many options. Writing. Baking. Gardening. Making homemade wine. Creating. Bursting into song at the slightest provocation. Exchanging corny puns with a friend. Sneaking bites of chocolate behind my own back.
It is tragic that many people don’t experience a zest for life. Depression, a sense of failure, lack of self-validation, distressing life situations, an unexpected illness, lack of inspiration, and despair run rampant in many lives.
Many a difficult day in my life was turned around by a simple gesture of kindness on the part of strangers. If each of us reaches out with a smile and a word of encouragement to one person each day, what a difference it can make!
Walking into a local mall on a rainy day, I passed by a homeless woman sheltering beneath the entrance roof. I smiled, nodded, and headed to the youth department to find a red turtleneck top for my daughter’s show choir performance that evening.
I had lost a potential client that morning, one I had worked long and hard to engage. A contract had been promised, but top management changed, corporate plans changed, and my opportunity was lost. Now, I was pressed for time, overworked, and depressed.
I noticed out of the corner of my eye that the homeless woman was shadowing me. I suspected that she was going to ask for money. I only had a couple of dollar bills to give her, but firsts I needed to find that red top.
I wasn’t finding it, so I angled across the store to the women’s department. She followed. Curious now, I slowly browsed from display to display, watching her out of the corner of my eye. She followed.
Finally, she quietly moved to a position on the opposite side of the rack of shirts, cleared her throat, and said, “Ma’am?”
“Yes?”
“I just wanted you to know that you have the most beautiful smile!”
Speechless, I gazed over the row of clothes to this stranger. I felt seen. I felt as if I mattered. I felt a cosmic hug. I wanted to weep.
“Thank you”, I managed to murmur as I sought to control the tears that were surfacing.
I reached into my purse to pull out a tissue, looked up, and she was gone.
I looked all over the store to find her. To give her my two measly dollar bills. To see if she was okay. Most of all, to tell her that her comment had helped heal something in my heart.
She was nowhere to be found. I asked a saleslady if she had seen her, and she shook her head.
I found a red turtle neck top, paid the cashier, and headed home, feeling nurtured and healed. I’ll never know the truth about that homeless woman, but I suspect she was an angel, sent to me at the moment I most needed assurance. She arrived for one moment in time, finished her task, and blinked out of my reality.
Since that time, I’ve changed. I look at everyone in my life as someone of value. Small, seemingly small encounters can bring cosmic dividends.
Look for ways to reach out.
Distribute socks to the homeless man standing on the corner. Thank the woman stocking shelves at the grocer. Be the one in a slow cashier line that refrains from complaining. Hand out candy bars to street workers. Set out a package of cookies for the trash collectors. Put a box of chocolate samplers in the mailbox for your postal worker. Give an extra-large tip to a hard-working server. Allow another driver in front of you at the freeway exit. Text a brief hello to a friend. Toss birdseed into your yard or peanuts for the squirrels. Volunteer at the local animal rescue facility.
Smile at people even if you don’t feel like smiling. It takes fewer muscles to smile than it does to frown and a smile raises your energy up a notch. Studies show that smiling activates tiny molecules, neuropeptides, in your brain that are designed to fend off stress. These facilitate communication between neurons in your brain. Also, when you smile, your brain releases dopamine, endorphins, and serotonin. These neurotransmitters lower anxiety and increase feelings of happiness. This natural, chemical brain chemistry helps you feel happier and more relaxed. It can also lower your heart rate and blood pressure. (1)
Those moments when we don’t have the interest or energy to demonstrate we care, are the exact moments when doing so can shift our reality. As we offer, something greater flows through us, healing us as it passes through.
Don’t forget to care about you.
Buy flowers for your dining table. Take a long soaking bath (although this may mean forcing yourself to scrub the tub first). Watch that awesome movie that no one else likes. Walk in the grass barefoot. Put on your favorite music and dance on the furniture. Eat popcorn for breakfast. Go listen to a local band playing at the park. Join a local group with similar interests to get yourself back into circulation. Spend daily time in prayer or meditation. Get out into nature – go for a walk or sit under a tree. Join a yoga or tai chi class. Eat more veggies. Begin a list of things you are grateful for and commit to adding at least one item every day.
I am thankful for you.
I appreciate you taking a moment to read what I share. Writing feeds my soul. May you also find something on this day that puts a twinkle in your eye!
(1) aultman.org
