Be The Good You Want to See

The motivational piece I’m working on is taking much longer than I expected. In an effort to try and make it this Monday, I started to rush it. It wasn’t good. So it’s going. It’s progressing. Unfortunately, it’s not ready yet. While I work on that, I want to remind us all to spread some good.

Be the Good You Want to See

I think it’s fairly straightforward, but allow me to explain anyway. We all get frustrated when someone is rude to us. The person who lets the store door close even though we are right behind them. Someone who shoves by us without saying excuse me. Or the person who looks down their nose at us because we don’t meet their dress approval, job or income criteria, or educational expectations.

Big good deeds are awesome. But we can’t always leave a large tip, send massive donations to shelters and food banks, take in a whole family displaced by mother nature’s wrath, or any number of other good deeds. That’s no reason we should overlook the small good deeds.

We may never know the impact a smile can have on someone’s day. We may never receive a thank you for holding the door open for the person behind us. But, by doing these small things consistently, we are doing what we’d like to see. A smile when we’re having a bad day. A door held when our arms are full. A nod when we say thank you. We are passing along subtle messages. Messages, that when more people do them, more people take note. In turn, they start doing them.

And ladies, we are not princesses. We shouldn’t expect to have a man hold the door for us. About a month ago I had the pleasure of holding the door for an elderly man who had served our country. He wanted to get the door for me, I told him he’d done plenty for our country and to let me do this for him. He smiled. A great big smile.

I made someone’s day a bit easier and a bit nicer. It wasn’t a grandiose gesture. But it was a gesture of love and kindness.

Gestures like that have a tendency to spread wings and soar.

Go Make Someone’s Day Brighter

So I encourage you to find a way to brighten someone’s day. Hold a door, read a book to a kid in the library so the mom can pick out her own book, smile, say “thank you,” every time your waiter fills your glass or cup.

Be the Good You Want to See.