Beneficence...
many of you may think that without the resources of Oprah that you are not capable of consistently committing acts of beneficence. Well i am here to tell you about how you can! I will preface this by stating that it will seem awkward to many of you in the beginning; but once it becomes habit it will seem natural. A simple smile, picking something up that has been dropped by that individual, complimenting someone on their smile, allowing someone to get in line in front of you at the grocery store...I could go on and on; but I think you get the idea. These little things could help someones day become much brighter with little or no effort on your part.
For example, last Saturday I went to go play Putt Putt golf. When I arrived I saw a large number of individuals turning around and leaving. Well, it turns out that the storm we had three nights prior to this had knocked out their electricity and it was still out. Now sure you can still play Putt Putt with out power; but the arcade, go karts, kitchen, and even restrooms (all electric) were out of commission. Back to my story...I sat just inside the entry way deciding what to do. During this time a family of husband, wife, and son came to the door. I overheard the conversation as they were notified of the scenario. I could see how the news left all three of them enervated by the inclement facial reactions. I could then hear them saying, "Can anything else go wrong today?" They then turned and began walking away so I could not fully understand the rest of the conversation but I could make out that they were reviewing the list of this particulars days unfortunate events. As I sat there it saddened me to have witnessed the facial expression of all of them (especially their son). Within 60 seconds I began to hear the sounds of a carnival...the power was back on! Employees were jumping for joy (whereas I am sure they were extremely bored the last few days) and others were cursing (being that the return of power brought the bad news of working until 2:00 AM). Anyway I digress...I (almost) immediately jumped up and ran outside to chase down the discouraged family. I was able to locate them in the parking lot before they had reached their vehicle and notify them of the great news. Also in doing so I let them know that I believed they were the "lucky charms". Cheesy? Absolutely, but if you know me at all I am a nerd with geeky and dorky attributes to boot.
Anyway...that shows that the only effort I made was to get up and run about 40 feet (before I saw them) walk another 150 feet and then use my vocal chords. You should have seen how jovial the boy looked. I could even see a change of expression in the eyes/face of his parents. There was a new zest amongst them and a skip in their step. It was that easy to make a positive difference in their day/evening. I do my best to try to accomplish this fulfilling feat at minimum once a day. It is free and if you are believer in karma will add some stock value to your karma portfolio.
For those of you that have money in between my poor status and Oprah's ridiculously wealthy status...you could even do the following: Say you walk in to a convenience store one day and there are three people in line in front of you...walk up to the cashier and tell them you will pay for whatever it is they have on their hands. You could be helping someone who is contemplating suicide or just found out that their spouse has six months to live.
Our society has become so caught up in the "ME" mentality that we forget to be considerate and respectful of those around us. We never know what they are going through.
OK I will stop whereas I would bet if anyone was reading this they may have stopped by now...lol If even one person reads this and at least tries to begin this great habit I will be overjoyed!
For example, last Saturday I went to go play Putt Putt golf. When I arrived I saw a large number of individuals turning around and leaving. Well, it turns out that the storm we had three nights prior to this had knocked out their electricity and it was still out. Now sure you can still play Putt Putt with out power; but the arcade, go karts, kitchen, and even restrooms (all electric) were out of commission. Back to my story...I sat just inside the entry way deciding what to do. During this time a family of husband, wife, and son came to the door. I overheard the conversation as they were notified of the scenario. I could see how the news left all three of them enervated by the inclement facial reactions. I could then hear them saying, "Can anything else go wrong today?" They then turned and began walking away so I could not fully understand the rest of the conversation but I could make out that they were reviewing the list of this particulars days unfortunate events. As I sat there it saddened me to have witnessed the facial expression of all of them (especially their son). Within 60 seconds I began to hear the sounds of a carnival...the power was back on! Employees were jumping for joy (whereas I am sure they were extremely bored the last few days) and others were cursing (being that the return of power brought the bad news of working until 2:00 AM). Anyway I digress...I (almost) immediately jumped up and ran outside to chase down the discouraged family. I was able to locate them in the parking lot before they had reached their vehicle and notify them of the great news. Also in doing so I let them know that I believed they were the "lucky charms". Cheesy? Absolutely, but if you know me at all I am a nerd with geeky and dorky attributes to boot.
Anyway...that shows that the only effort I made was to get up and run about 40 feet (before I saw them) walk another 150 feet and then use my vocal chords. You should have seen how jovial the boy looked. I could even see a change of expression in the eyes/face of his parents. There was a new zest amongst them and a skip in their step. It was that easy to make a positive difference in their day/evening. I do my best to try to accomplish this fulfilling feat at minimum once a day. It is free and if you are believer in karma will add some stock value to your karma portfolio.
For those of you that have money in between my poor status and Oprah's ridiculously wealthy status...you could even do the following: Say you walk in to a convenience store one day and there are three people in line in front of you...walk up to the cashier and tell them you will pay for whatever it is they have on their hands. You could be helping someone who is contemplating suicide or just found out that their spouse has six months to live.
Our society has become so caught up in the "ME" mentality that we forget to be considerate and respectful of those around us. We never know what they are going through.
OK I will stop whereas I would bet if anyone was reading this they may have stopped by now...lol If even one person reads this and at least tries to begin this great habit I will be overjoyed!
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