Good News….
This is inspired by reading the paper and finding only bad news.
It’s tragic: You would think the world were coming to an end.
After my avoidance of the news all of my life really, I thought it time to educate myself and understand current events and history.
Honestly, I’ve found that there isn’t much sense to be made out of most of it.
While I enjoy being informed, it is one tragic set of affairs followed by the next. History repeats itself and things haven’t changed much and yet in many ways they have. We have a black man for president for the first time and the first woman is running for president so this is a major accomplishment but on a whole the media leads with fear and now some of our potential leaders are running away with that message as well.
I will attempt to share these magical moments of good news so you can look for them too and we can send a message to the world that all we need to do is start sharing the goodness we see in each human being and the many random acts of kindness given.
Sometimes my heart breaks when I feel and hear of so much suffering present in the world. I know there is noting truly I can do about it but send light and love, make a donation, give a smile, hold someone’s hand, offer a sandwich but still tears run down my face.
In honor of good news:
As I took my place in line to get a prescription filled at the pharmacy for the dreaded C….
I waited patiently even though every ounce of me was fidgeting.
Finally when it was my turn, the checker at the counter was most gracious and offered to take me around the store to help me find the other things I needed. I found it rather odd as I generally feel shuffled off as soon as possible and am steered to the front of the store to pay.
When we were done she said “thank you very much for being so nice”.
I was so surprised when in fact she was the one in fact going out of her way to help me.
I said “aren’t most people nice”? “Oh no”, she said. “On the contrary, they are very rude and yell about everything not being just right. I thought “if she only knew, I was feeling the same thing just seconds ago”.
I said “maybe they are in pain which is when people can be short and irritable and take it out on you but it isn’t you”.
She said “no they aren’t in pain, I know what pain looks like”.
We had an interesting conversation of people’s impatience ( much as I was feeling standing waiting in line until I recognized it and returned to my breath, staying present noticing my restlessness; I rooted my feet to the earth, softened my breath, and used it as a moment of mindfulness ).
After all, the only one we hurt in those situations are ourselves. Our heart rate, blood pressure, cortisol levels raise, our muscles contract and we let our mind be disturbed.
And then of course the person on the receiving end gets the brunt of either our covert expressions or outward complaints sending a rippling effect out.
Pain, we decided together, might be many levels deep and we will never truly know what is behind it or what the person is going through.
We both left with appreciation. She felt better having someone with patience and got to kvetch about all of her rude customers and I felt better that I used my waiting as an opportunity to be kind even though underneath, my impatience was bubbling up.
It was a beautiful exchange and reminder to use everyday moments as opportunities to first adjust my own attitude and then to interact with others that offer kindness and joy.
Oh, and the dreaded C is the colonoscopy which I could have been very impatient about since there is no part of me that wants to do this except for the very fact that it is routine at 50 unless you have a history in your genetics that might require it earlier and then every 10 years after that.
I can hardly wait to practice patience 😁😁😁 when I start the ghastly drink and meet my doctor in the morning for the procedure.
NO, I WON’T TELL YOU MY AGE OR WHY I AM GOING IN BUT I HAVE YOU GUESSING RIGHT?! I’m sure this is more information that you cared to hear about but all I can say is if you’re lucky enough this will be you someday and then you’ll know what I’m talking about.
Just this week I heard some beautiful stories of 2 dogs, a whale, and dolphin and one strong woman.
I also heard a miraculous story of a young man and a whale.
Care to share?
I would LOVE to hear about it.
I’m off to the beach with my 2 dogs and husband to see if I can find them.
Love and Blessings,
Cindy
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That’s a wonderful example of redirecting your energy and then reaping a loving reward for it. You took your impatience and redirected it to being present. You calmed your energy and look what it attracted – a wonderful connection with the store employee. Reminds me of how I was treated similarly last year in a pharmacy when my mom had stage four throat cancer. An older male employee of the pharmacy took me all around the store finding the items I needed for her. He was so kind and I still remember him to this day.
Thank you! I wish I could always be that insightful and redirect my energy in the same way. It’s so true that things open for us just by a shift in attitude.
Awe, that is so touching and I can imagine how grateful you were during that very challenging time for you!
It’s really good to remember our actions can carry over long after we have forgotten the incident. What a tremendous gift!