Day 108 of Your Year to Wellness

Sending Out What you Want to Come Back

I’m sitting in a car servicing place waiting for my car to get its necessary check-up and repairs. There is one small table and several straight back chairs. I’ve gotten work done here in the past, so I thought I’d catch up on some editing while I waited. As soon as I made my way for the little table, a young couple made a bee line to get there first.

I sat in one of the chairs, opened my computer and thought, “Well, this is why they call them laptops.”

As I tried to balance and write I noticed the couple whispering and laughing about beating me to the little table.

I closed my eyes and imagined them whole and even happier than they were for beating me to the table. As I did, I felt an overwhelming joy and my balancing act began to feel normal and then just fine.

I wondered why the couple had charged for the table when they saw me on my way there and I remembered what my mother used to say. “Don't you worry about what anyone else does; just do what you know to do.”

There is a passage in the Bible that teaches us to consider ways to stimulate others to acts of kindness and love. I love this passage but it often gets lost because it’s right before a passage about assembling together which is often interpreted as “Get ye to a church; preferably the one I go to.”

What if we moved through life looking for opportunities to do something that would inspire someone to do something for someone else? What if our actions were based on a desire to make the world a better place and not on our selfish need to be right, first or the best?

I’m going to keep this short and simple, because my laptop is sliding off the lap it was designed for.

Today, look for ways to inspire others at work, home and in your community. Try to do something for someone that starts a chain reaction.

Our negative behavior has an impact but so do our positive thoughts.

Part 2: Just one More Thing...

I’m sitting at a table now because I’m back at home. On my way out of the car repair place, my own writing inspired me to look for ways to stimulate others to acts of kindness and love. I overheard that the couple who ran to beat me to the table was on their honeymoon and while on their trip, got a flat tire and needed to have it repaired. As I was paying my bill, I asked the young man who waited on me how much the honeymooner’s bill was and I prayed that it would be no more than $20.00. The young man told me that it was $25. I smiled and whispered that I would take care of it. He stared at me and I watched as the tears filled his eyes and then spilled down on his cheeks.

“I do this kind of thing all of the time but it seems that I just get knocked down.” The young man said. “Today I was hoping to see someone do something nice, just one nice thing was all I needed." Then he told me that he would take off $5.00 and I felt like I had won something.

In that second I understood why the part about stimulating others to acts of kindess and love was right before the part about assembling together; for every purpose there is a need when we come together we see this more clearly.

The young man called the couple up and excitedly told them that they didn’t owe anything. The woman snatched her money back and said, “Well, I ain’t going to argue with you.”

She and her new husband ran out without a word of thanks.

The young employee asked me why I didn’t tell them that I had paid the bill and I smiled and told him that even though I hadn’t known it then, it became obvious to me that I hadn’t done this for the couple; I did it for him.

His heart desired to see an act of kindness. He needed to know that there was good in the world and that he was not alone and so did mine.

I love the way the Universe works. Sometimes the things we do for one person are really for someone else but they always come back to you.

Only send out what you want to see again.

Be you, be well, inspire

Bertice Berry, PhD.

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