I’ve noticed something funny this last week while hobbling around London on my crutches (suspected medial meniscus tear in my left knee while grappling recently on the floor!).
People respond differently to me now.
People make way for me. Hold doors open. Even the chuggers on the street (charity muggers) don’t seem to bother me – perhaps they take pity.
But this doesn’t happen usually. Sure, people are nice and kind and sometimes these things happen anyway, but….
There’s been something different this time.
I don’t think it’s pity. It could be of course. But it doesn’t seem that way.
They are just showing their true selves.
Kind. Compassionate. Caring. Looking out for their fellow person. It’s something the Dalai Lama champions – compassion. But do we really listen and apply?
And yet. Normally people don’t (show that side of themselves). Strangers asking if I’m okay. Coming and speaking to me. Smiling in the street.
What would it be like if that was the way it always was?
That’s why I say kindness is a choice – although it’s inherent in all of us. We have the capacity for great things. Just sometimes live, work and all in between gets in the way.
Especially in a big city when we’re working and rushing from here to there. We take no time to show that side of ourselves.
Me included!
Massively.
What if we treated everyone we met a little different?
What if we treated everyone we came across as if we knew a little secret about them….. that at precisely midnight that night, they would DIE.
How would you treat them? How much time would you have? Even if it was just an extra 2 seconds to throw a smile over, or hold a door open?
How would your work place environment change? Your home life?
Only one way to tell.
Give it a go.
What do you think? Are you willing?
