You Say Tomato!
Written by: Sabine Roggermeier; Gluecklich Im Sein
I’ve never heard the expression of “paying it forward” for doing something kind without any thought of being reimbursed, but I like it! There is a show called “Random Acts of Kindness” where they do nice things for strangers. I love that show and whenever I feel really off and down I watch it. It cheers me up every single time! Doesn’t that already show how much joy there is in being kind or even just watching others do kind things?
Thinking back to instances when others paid it forward to me immediately two different occasions came to mind. For one a friend of mine gave me a ticket to a Tony Robbins seminar years ago, the visit to which literally changed my life. The other time a friend of mine came to visit me when I was sick and took the time not only to lift me up with words, but by washing all my dishes and cleaning my kitchen. I am truly grateful for both. The first friend gave me an experience that meant a chance for me to give my life a different direction while the second friend gave me the feeling of being taken care of when I couldn’t do it myself.
My current acts of kindness are glowing red balls of deliciousness: tomatoes that ripened on the plants in my little raised beds. I love to see the surprise and the joy on people’s faces when I put a few of them in their hands. That is much better than eating them all on my own (which wouldn’t be too hard of a job, trust me!). It’s the surprise and the joy of others that make random acts of kindness so gratifying for me. It gives me joy in return.
Did you know that when you feel love for someone your heart sends out strong electromagnetic signals to this person? Even your heartbeat shows up in the other person’s brain waves. Imagine a world full of people doing random acts of kindness out of appreciation and love for the other one. Can you envision the global net of electromagnetic signals sent from person to person?
I loved this quote from Dr. Jane Goodall that was recently posted to the Facebook page of Consciously Woman: “I like to envision the whole world as a jigsaw puzzle… If you look at the whole picture, it is overwhelming and terrifying, but if you work on your little part of the jigsaw and know that people all over the world are working on their little bits, that’s what will give you hope.”
For me that is not only true for the global challenges we have to face but also for how kindness works. We don’t have to do it all by ourselves, only our part. It was in a dark phase of my life that I learned that acts of kindness are like a safety net for the hard times. If we all do our share of being kind and benevolent we in return will always have someone to lean on when we need it! That is a truly hopeful thought, isn’t it?
