DAY 11: Simple Human Kindness

Candlelight Stroll, Downtown Weaverville, N. Carolina

It is the day after the annual Candlelight Stroll in the small town of Weaverville, N. Carolina and I am still filled with the joy of a community coming together to celebrate life in so many and varied ways. The rain is coming down now and I sit warm and cozy in my home sanctuary after a short walk to the local library to pick up a book.

What I thought was to be a simple errand a couple of hours ago turned into a connective experience in simple human kindness and positive engagement. Something we not only yearn for but wish to extend to others in these challenging times.

Only a few blocks, the walk was brisk to beat the anticipated rain. At the same time being aware of opportunities for spontaneous connection that proved to be numerous much to my delight.

• A police officer waiting to move into traffic from a driveway, seeing me a bit away on the sidewalk, purposefully moving back out of the way to let me walk by. Going up to his window, which he rolled down, I thanked him for his kindness and wished him happy holidays. He responded back in kind.
• People on the sidewalk exchanging smiles and good mornings. A simple kindness that is available to us all the time.
• A young boy of about 6 years old getting out of his family car near the library and running to the door. My thought was that he was excited to look at books to borrow that day and it made me happy to see. That is until I saw the real reason why he was hurrying to get there before me. He wanted to open the door for me! “Thank you kind sir. I sincerely appreciate your opening the door for me.” His response was “you are welcome” with a huge smile on his face.
• Sharing laughter with the librarian (quietly :-)) around not being able to pick my library card off of the counter as it was stuck there until she slid it off. That apparently was the third time in a row she had done that and this time she decided it was humorous!
• And then what I now call the “Climb in. Turn around. Sit Down.” song and dance. As I walked back home I was passing a car where a young mother was securing her child in the back seat of the car. I never did see the child, but I did hear the mother’s litany of “climb in, turn around, sit down” and I swear she felt my smiling even though I was a little past them. It reminded me of a possible children’s game of some sort. As I turned around she actually started singing the words and was smiling to herself. I said to her – “isn’t that a children’s game of some sort?”, thinking but not saying, like the Hokey Pokey (yikes that dates me!) We laughed with each other and I must say I was tempted to dance and sing right there with her. What you want to bet that this will become a song sung to her child when she wants them to get secured in the car?!

These are all simple events that happened in moments in time during a very short walk. Reminding me that there is always opportunity for simple human kindness and connection – giving or receiving – no matter where we are or what we are engaged in…….or even how we are feeling in any given moment.

A matter of where we choose to place our attention?

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About 31 Days of Joy & Laughter Project:

As elders with a long life behind us and not as much embodied life before us, and as humans on the planet Earth at this time, we are being faced with incredible challenges that compete to take our attention.

A couple of days ago I realized I no longer choose to have my attention taken by the fear, doom and gloom broadcast daily, whether on our smart phones news feed or while talking to others. I am weary of it all and need a higher vibration energy bath!.

It is not that I don’t want to know what is happening in the world, but instead the question I am posing to myself, and to you, every day is – where do we want to place our attention? We most always have a choice.

For the month of December I am placing attention on joy, laughter, creativity and acts of kindness as a experiment to see what unfolds. Seeking out and being aware of moments of joy sometimes hidden in the deep pockets and lining of each and every day that seem to get passed over without even looking back. They are always there.

Each day in December you will find a small nugget of joy, humor, creativity or small act of kindness that found me and pulled my attention which will be posted here. I invite you to join me and share your experiences and what you noticed so that we may spread it around! (Please use the “Comment” section below).

If you don’t want to miss any of these posts simply sign up for the blog here:

http://wildlyfreeelder.com/blog/

You can also find all of the posts in the archives here: http://wildlyfreeelder.com/2021/12/

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Gaye Abbott, Natural Passages Consulting, 12/11/21. Please feel free to share this post and link to WildlyFreeElde

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