Week 26: Manners
In this week we are looking at how we can initiate random acts of kindness just by refocusing on our everyday manners. It’s time to take what your mama taught you and put it into action!
Here are 5 ways to make a difference in someone’s day just from your good manners:
- Hold the door open for someone. There is nothing more frustrating than having the door slammed in your face and your spirits are always uplifted when someone thinks of you, too, and gives you an easy entrance.
- Smile! They’re contagious!
- Give someone your seat on the bus. See someone with their kid or kids? An older person with tired legs? Or just someone who needs a break in their day? Offer your seat to them to help them out.
- Let someone in line in front of you. Do you have a lot of groceries and the person behind you only has two? Let them go first and help them get on their way.
- Say hello. Let the people you run into know that their existence matters with a simple hello.
I love saying “Hello” to people. And especially love it when unexpected people say “Hi” to me! When I was working downtown, the people hanging out around the soup kitchen were my favorite to walk past because you always exchanged a nice “Good morning.” There are so many times when I draw a conclusion about people even before we interact and I love it when I am surprised by kindness–it breaks me out of building-walls mode.
(Thanks for following!)
I constantly have to focus on saying hi to people, too. It’s much more natural to put your head down and to keep moving with your walls. It does make such a difference to have a connection with someone you will never meet. The more you do something, the easier it will be and it will eventually become a habit. Thank you for reading.