When you see something beautiful in someone, tell them. It may take a second to say, but for them it may last a lifetime.
Who was someone in your world who went out of their way to say something genuinely kind and complementary about you, that you still remember many years later?
Why is it that you still remember what they said?
We have had so many communications with so many disparate people, and most of them are readily forgotten, so why is it that one or two of those immediately come to mind when we are asked the question above?
When we sense that someone has complemented us with genuine kindness, that is not just a polite statement, it connects on a deeper level, because it was unexpected, as well as unsolicited, and so the validity of the comment is that much more poignant to us.
I believe that all of us are creatures who are trying our best to work our way through the maze of life, seeking our enjoyment and satisfaction, wherever it might arise in between all of our respective duties and responsibilities.
This continuous cycle in life keeps us more myopically focused on making everything in our world work, and gives us less room or opportunity to appreciate some of the smaller and less significant details in life.
When we are heavily focused on bringing our respective missions to fruition, we are starving ourselves from some of the greater joys in life.
When I asked you above to remember one or two extraordinarily kind things that somebody said to you (preferably more than 10 years ago), within a few seconds you were able to conjure a couple of them. They might have been an incidental comment in passing, but here you are more than a decade later, and it’s still instantly popped into your mind.
Kindness is a currency that we must readily spend with authenticity and love in our heart without any expectation whatsoever. We are granted the ability to be kind as part of our original operating system, and if that behavior is fostered in our youth, we are that much more prone to leverage that resource, as we mature.
If you spend time with someone who has mastered this skill, you will see how valuable it truly is, just by watching how others react.
I have a friend who goes out of his way to complement others about things that I might never have mentioned. He has no agenda in the commentary, he just does it because that is part of who he is.
We were sitting in a restaurant, and he complemented the waitress on the dress that she was wearing because it had a very artistic print design, and I watched her face light up like a sunflower.
That minutia detail was never lost on me. From that point forward I have worked towards adding more of those moments to my own repertoire, because of how much I enjoyed watching how pleased she was at what he had said.
So go the extra distance to be kind, it might make the entire difference to someone you do not even know, and perhaps your kindness will be remembered decades after you have transitioned off of this planet, solely because you were generous with your warmth.
Happy Sunday!
Brian Weiner 