The Power of Kindness: How Everyone Benefits from Spreading Goodness
Don’t hold off on making friends till they do. Prove it to them.
~Unknown
I often find myself wondering how I arrived at this point in my life.
I had very little to work with when I first got here, but I’ve managed to build a good life for myself and become financially stable.
There were low points in my life during my teenage years and early twenties.
Whether or not we are blessed with a close-knit group of friends and family who will always have our backs, the reality is that most of the time we will feel quite alone.
When times were tough, I harbored resentment against the rest of humanity.
I had finally come to the conclusion that no one cared about anybody except themselves, and I had given up hope in the concept that most people were nice at heart.
When did we lose that sense of belonging?
Or assisting others in your community.
What about fair treatment of all people and respect for individuality?
Everything seemed enormous, gloomy, and empty.
I was really disappointed.
Strangers have had as big an effect on my development and my life as my friends and family, which is something I didn’t know at the time.
I realized that I was stunting my development and happiness by isolating myself from the world.
Let me elaborate.
A few years ago, I was involved in an accident while traveling alone in an unfamiliar area.
A large number of random bystanders saw what happened and continued on their way.
Two people who had every right to walk away and let someone else deal with the accident instead came to my rescue.
They weren’t obligated to assist, and they really had somewhere else to be.
Instead, they stopped what they were doing to aid me, waited for the ambulance to come, connected me with a friend, and assured me I would be OK.
To have strangers take such pains to assure my safety when they didn’t even know my name was shocking.
The shock to my system was refreshing, really.
My routine has been altered in several ways, but this is the first.
Someone I’ve never met went out of their way to help me; therefore, I want to repay that kindness by helping others.
I allowed myself to consider the possibility that not everyone is self-centered and that, in reality, most people are in the same boat as me, lonely, overwhelmed, and searching for someone to set them free.
After some time and a lot of guts, I started acting in ways I’d always hoped people would.
When riding the subway or standing in a lengthy queue, I’ll strike up a conversation with a complete stranger.
Even though they didn’t let me answer, I listened to their tales.
I’ve helped people I didn’t know by stopping to see if they were okay, pointing them in the right direction when they seemed confused, giving them some advice, returning to keep an eye on their stuff, and even distracting crying kids from their parents by making goofy expressions or telling them jokes that weren’t really amusing.
While studying at a coffee shop one day, I heard the commotion of a vehicle accident outside and noticed an old guy who seemed to be in distress and who was waiting alone for the police to arrive.
I went and got him a drink from the store and made sure he was being taken care of since I remembered how alone I had felt and how much others had helped me through my own tragedy.
Every person I’ve met has left their own unique mark on me, whether it’s been a minor or significant one, or one I’ll never fully understand.
Each of them has brightened my day and, I can only hope, theirs as well.
A few years ago, everything started to make sense to me in the grand scheme of things.
I said hello to a down-and-out guy I saw regularly on the streets.
I paused for the joke he claimed to have written.
The moment I laughed and started walking away again, he stopped me to say, “Thank you for listening.”
For a very long time, I’ve been looking for the right person to tell it to.
Purposefully enjoy your day!
That sums up the whole thing.
Have a purposefully excellent day.
Yes, that’s right—on purpose.
Doing nice deeds will attract excellent results.
Every morning brings new opportunities and new decisions.
You might just go about your day as usual, doing the same things you usually do, or you could branch out and learn something new.
My outlook on life has been profoundly altered by my willingness to extend a helping hand and an optimistic attitude to complete strangers.
I stopped expecting people to disprove my assumptions and started seeking the answers on my own, and I soon realized they were there under my nose the whole time.
All I had to do was shake off the cloud of negativity I was under.
There are many examples of how good fortune has found its way back to me.
Strangers have assisted me more times than I can count, from the first pair of strangers who aided me through a terrifying accident to the folks who have approached me with praise and the ones who have offered a smile on days when I could not stand to carry my own.
Some people who hardly know me have taken a risk on me, trusted me, and put themselves in harm’s way to assist me in furthering my profession.
Recently, a kind lady saw me shivering in the cold and gave me a handmade scarf she was selling.
Even though we didn’t know one another before, we all reached out to provide encouragement and share good vibes.
Some of them became friends, and I will remember them for the rest of my life.
Whether or not I ever figure out why I was so fortunate to meet them, I know that I was.
I’ll be the first to confess that it may be nerve-wracking to strike up a conversation with a total stranger or provide assistance without knowing what to expect in return.
You may begin by simply making eye contact, holding the door open for them, giving them sincere praise, or making a lighthearted remark.
Unfortunately, most people do not anticipate acts of kindness, so this experience might be shocking to them.
Remember that even if your efforts were unsuccessful, you still did something to make a difference in someone’s life.
Suddenly, I wasn’t feeling quite so alone.
As a result, I felt like I could relate to and understand my peers on a whole new level.
Suddenly, the world doesn’t seem quite so vast, empty, and foreboding.
