Did you know you can turn someone’s day around by offering them a smile? A kind word? A simple gesture? We live in a world that has become so attached to our “things” that we often miss opportunities to touch someone else. Is your phone so important that you must have your head buried in it all the time? When you are out with friends? When you are shopping? When you are eating? What has happened to our society that we are so busy, we can’t stop and appreciate the moment?
Here is a little tip: the older you get, the more time that passes, the more you will realize how much you are missing by being buried beneath your electronics and lost in the computerized world. We already give so much of ourselves to education, work and often we value our private time before we value the time we spend with our families. I just want you to take a moment and stop. Think about how you have spent this day and answer the question: was it worth it? Did you carry out the things you set out to do? Perhaps you had no goals and so the answer is yes. Perhaps you don’t want to spend time with your family or friends, so the answer is yes. Perhaps you are lost in the world of ‘reality t.v.’ rather than living your own life, so the answer is yes.
However, if the answer is no and you are at the end of the day, why not plan on making a change when you wake up? It’s easy. Wake up and do something you don’t generally do. Don’t check your phone first thing instead acknowledge the day. Take a deep breath and slowly let it out. Show yourself some kindness. Don’t allow the day to hit you full on with the force of a tornado, let it be the wave slowly rolling to the shore. Prepare yourself. Take time to say hello to the person or people you live with. If you live alone say good morning to yourself.
You are a wonderful person and it’s time you start acknowledging that fact. You deserve to take at least a few moments every day for you. Whether it is to savor the smell of that first cup of coffee (or what ever you love) or just draw that long deep breath and stretch; to not rush through your shower but to feel the water on your skin. Life is worth living and every moment you get an opportunity to notice it. To know you are alive and to appreciate your surroundings. There are those who don’t.
Yes, this is the part where I tell you that an intelligent, wonderful man is no longer around to draw a breath. For me to look into his beautiful blue eyes and laugh with him. His death hits me every day and I am learning to live with it. Beyond that, I am learning to live again. Every day is a gift and sometimes I fight to accept that gift. My own inner turmoil doesn’t change my actions.
I try to make someone smile by sharing mine. I try to remember to always thank people for their help, no matter what type of help it is, and in return I am rewarded by seeing a smile on their face. Seeing thankfulness for recognizing what they are doing, even when it’s their job, receiving the simplest of rewards; a thank you.
Tomorrow is not promised to us. We have today. We have this moment. How you choose to spend the time you have each and every day is up to you. How you choose to respond to other people is up to you. Why not try treating them as you want to be treated? Why not try looking up from your phone and giving someone your full, undivided attention the next time you go out with them? What is the point of going to eat together if you are going to keep your head buried in your pocket technology? You might as well have stayed home.