Happy Fall, ya’ll! This weather this week here in Atlanta has had me in the brightest mood! It’s been blue skies and sunny, but 65-70 degrees! How perfect!?
Anyhow, enough about the weather. I wanted to make a post since it’s been a little while that I’ve written, and after all, this is supposed to be 12 (full) months of sunshine!
Over a month ago I wrote about intentional acts of kindness and self-love. Well I’m going to save the self-love topic for later, but I wanted to share a little about some of the intentional acts of kindness that I have been personally putting effort into, and that I’ve personally experienced from others lately. It’s been incredible and beautifully eye opening to see how many amazing things you notice around you when you’re intentionally looking for them. Simultaneously, it’s interesting how many things you notice you AREN’T doing until you gain acute awareness of them.
I’m a firm believer that we are in full control of our lives and even our circumstances a lot of the time. Most of the success or failure of living comes with the ways we react or our lack of a reaction to different situations. I preface my post here to say this; whatever effort and joy you put in your day-to-day, hour-to-hour happenings in life will and do come full circle back to you. They DO make your life so much more bright and better in the seemingly dark and bleak world we exist in sometimes.
My pastor at Passion City has been preaching a lot on how if God/our spirituality and faith were the focus’ of our lives, and then others, and then ourselves, that this world would be a different place to live. Thus today, I wanted to give you some of the examples that have stuck out to me lately where simply because myself or someone else gave a little extra care, a little extra conversation, or a little extra joy towards someone else, that the outcome was literally a happier interaction or exchange of feelings between humans for that moment. If we strive for more of these little moments, and they become more frequent, what could that do for our lives? What could it do for others lives? What could it do for our world?
Literal random acts of kindness; anyone can do them!
About a month ago, I attended Music Midtown in Piedmont Park with a whole crew (the whole Bonnaroo Croo that is!) of friends. It was a thoroughly happy and wonderful weekend in all senses of the matter! On the second day of the festival, I found a pair of sunglasses on the ground that only had one of the lenses in tact. Being the wild little spirit that I am, I of course decided to put them on and wear them, because why the heck not look a little crazy and cause some laughter when people look you in the eyes?! Well as I was cruising around looking like a 21st century pirate, a guy came up to me, stopped me as I was walking, and simply said “You look like you could use a pair of sunglasses.” Mind you, I have never seen this guy before, I have no idea who he is, and he was with a friend who was on his way to a show as well. I stood there semi-speechless as he pulled his backpack from around his torso, reached into the outer pocket, and gave me the coolest shades I have ever seen. They weren’t branded for some advertisement purpose; they were just his sunglasses that he decided to give to someone that looked like they were in need of a pair! He smiled as he handed them to me silently and walked away. I stared at them for about 7 seconds before yelling “thank you!!!” after him and his friend. He looked back, waved at me with another smile, and disappeared into the crowd. Well let me tell you, I rushed to tell all my friends about that brief but poignant moment. Was it anything big? No! It was just a simple interaction of giving, receiving, and a mutual feeling of sharing and love. Mind you I am white, he was black, I am a female, and he is a male. Mutual love and kindness between opposite sexes and opposite races… shocking right? WRONG. These things happen all the time, but do you notice or see them? Or share them with others? Think about it.
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Relatable feelings with strangers… or with anyone. Talk to someone today!
I have recently started making a conscious effort to genuinely speak to each person I come in contact with; weather it’s in an elevator, the barista at Starbucks, a fast food window worker, a concierge, etc. Well I started voice therapy at Emory a few weeks back, and on my first visit I came into the office on a heavy Monday morning. It was the morning after the Las Vegas shootings. I had been in tears on and off all morning after hearing the news, and the death toll was only rising. I sat down in the waiting area and was shortly after greeted by a woman named Cheryl. Cheryl is one of the nurses in the Otolaryngology department there at Emory. Now this could’ve been any old normal come-in-and-check-your-vitals kind of a visit with Cheryl, but it started with me asking her a simple question with a genuinely caring disposition: “How are you doing today?” That was literally all it took. Cheryl and I started conversing about the morning and the events in Vegas, and before we knew it we were sharing feelings about all that’s going on in the world, how we need more love on this earth, and how it starts with people and conversations. She was still checking vitals and asking me the necessary questions for my appointment that day, but there was a lightness in the room and a friendliness that wasn’t there before I asked about her day. By the end of that 10 minute span, Cheryl and I were belly laughing so hard and smiling so big, that the sadness of the morning was nearly gone for just those brief moments! What a beautiful thing right?! All from the question “How are you doing today?” I saw Cheryl as she was leaving work when I was coming in for my last appointment there, and we, once again had a “hey girl hey!” interaction that had both of us smiling once again. I don’t know what her day was like that day, and can’t really remember what mine was like, but for my brief interaction with her, both of our days were joyous.
Your personal happiness and light can go a long way to brighten someone else! Give that joy away!
As most of ya’ll know or have seen lately, I’ve been attending Passion City Church, and it has been nothing short of a life changing and spirit-altering (almost) year within those walls. Now the people at Passion are all rather exceptional from my experiences, weather you are a door holder or a guest or on one of their leadership teams. Within the last year I’ve attended Passion, strangely enough, I had never used the bathroom there. But last week when I was there for choir training for 7 hours, I had to go! (Please keep reading, this probably isn’t going where you think it is!) I opened the door predicting an average experience that one would expect to have in a restroom, when I was greeted with the happiest, loudest, most wonderful voice, ”Hi beautiful lady! This one down here is open! Right here for you, beautiful mama!” It was Lucy. Lucy is a bathroom attendant on Sunday mornings when there are high volumes of people in the church. There was another lady that was helping Lucy to make sure that everything was stocked and clean throughout the 3 services, but Lucy was the vocal one. Each woman that walked through that entrance door was given a personal, joyous, loud, wonderful greeting by Lucy as she guided them to the next available restroom. When I came out of my stall, I asked her her name, told her mine, and reminded her that she too was a beautiful lady that had thoroughly made my morning that much better! This woman is a bathroom attendant ya’ll, and she is probably the happiest person I have come face to face with in months. I now look forward to going to the bathroom when I go to church! Are you a Lucy in your life, in your job, within your friends or family? Could you be?
Going above and beyond when you feel that urge… don’t wish you’d done it, do it!
We’ve all had those moments where we’ve seen or heard something and wanted to help or do something about it, but have just continued walking or looked the other way or didn’t want to burden ourselves because we just didn’t feel like it… well this mentality in our world has GOT to change
The smallest little effort can change someone’s whole world around; even if only for a moment! Last week, I was leaving brunch at one of my favorite places, and had a leftover omlet and fruit in my passenger seat next to me. I stopped to get gas and noticed a homeless man standing next to the wall of the station. He was older and very, very dirty and skinny. He wasn’t talking to anyone or asking for money or anything at all; just standing alone against a wall. I watched him as I pumped my gas, and soon he crossed the lot and started walking down the road. I noticed he also had a limp in his walk like maybe his leg was injured. I didn’t really have any money to give him, but I didn’t want to just pass him by. I pulled out of the gas station, went down the road to where he was walking, rolled down my window and said, “Excuse me, sir!” With a startled jump the man immediately put his hands up as if I were the police. It was the most devastating thing. I said “You’re okay, I just wanted to give you this food!” There was a little hill downward to the street and the turning lane where I was stopped in my car. He looked at it and said “I can’t come down that way.” I think it was because of the limp in his leg. So in the middle of the turning lane on Piedmont, I put my emergency blinkers on, put the car in park, and got out to give him my leftover eggs and fruit. I handed it to him and said “Take care of yourself, okay?” and patted his shoulder. Before I got back into my car 5 steps away, he was already opening the containers to eat. It took a little more care, a little more effort, and a solid minute out of my busy day to make this mans better. Don’t think “oh well, someone else will help them,” but think “oh yes, an opportunity to make someone’s day!”
In closing, one of the best for last!
The last story I want to close with was a personal experience that encompasses all of these above moments into one for me. I am a server at Houstons off West Paces and I’ve been there just over 4 years now. The job can get mundane and incredibly negative and stressful at times, and I have been making conscious effort to come in with a better attitude and more joy to give over the last year, and it’s been doing wonders for me, and hopefully some of my co-workers around me. Some of the main people I’ve been trying to share joy and light with are the guests at my tables. Some people are coming and going quickly, some people are looking to have an intimate dinner where they don’t want to interact with their server, and some people are there for an experience, meaning that they may want an exceptional service experience throughout their dining time at the restaurant. Almost three months ago I had a table that really made my whole week, and really my whole past few months at work that I have yet to stop thinking about. It was a Saturday night and this beautiful couple had come in for dinner. Joey and Rebecca had their first date at my Houstons location a few years prior and were now married and back celebrating an anniversary on this night! They were both around my age and both had this incredible grace and energy about them. The dinner started off quietly, but before long the three of us started sparking conversation with each other. They shared some of their story of love and their relationship with me, I told them that my boyfriend Brad had long hair like Joey did and joked about how badly I wanted him to cut it, I admired Rebecca’s beautiful ring which was the first thing that caught my eye (haha!), and Joey told me about his ring that was first made with skateboard materials, and was now a leather one that was a bit more durable! I asked them about their horoscopes and even looked up their two as matches (which were of the highest astrological compatibility of course! Lol!) They were just the sweetest, most creative-seeming, loving couple and I adored having them at my table. When I went to pick up their payment slip, they had left me an incredibly generous tip with a sweet hand written note and a short-stemmed red rose that Joey had in his pocket the whole night. My favorite part was the end when they wrote “Gods blessings to you and your future.” It was amazing to know that their faith was rooted in the same Heavenly Father as mine. And all of the joy of this night was brought from the three of us caring to know and interact a little more than normal with each other. It wasn’t guest to waitress, it was human to human. And it made for a memory and a story I will share over and over again. Little did Joey and Rebecca know, I also love dried roses and flowers, and their short-stemmed red rose now lives on my shelf next to my favorite cards and flowers from Brad.
I write this post, and all of the posts on this blog series for one main purpose: to inspire and remind my readers that you, yes YOU, can bring more joy and purpose into your life and the lives of everyone around you! It’s simply from the awareness and the little extra effort you put into your daily surroundings! It’s not a news flash; we do live in a dark world sometimes. But the light outweighs the darkness if we look for it and if we share the sunshine that we have within us!
I used to look for a lot of these good deed opportunities to make myself personally feel better, but throughout the last year of life changes and finding a church home, I attest all of this back to showing grace and love to the world around me because of the grace and love I’ve found through Jesus. I have always said I didn’t want to make this a religious blog, but I am no longer going to shy away from proclaiming that it is truly wanting to walk in Jesus’ image that is at the core of the goodness I want to put back into the world. Go into this next week and the upcoming days with this mentality of spirituality and giving back to others before just thinking about ourselves. See what it does for you. See what it does to inspire those around you. And see if the love and sunshine you give out doesn’t come full circle back to your own life.
As always, thank you for reading, and feel free to share this! And no matter where you are in life, in faith, in sadness, or in happiness, always look within your own heart for some light; right on the surface, or deeply rooted within… it’s there. And it’s meant to be shared. So go out there and do it! Big ways or small ways, every bit always matters.
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