Be Nice Today

"Life’s like a boom-a-rang. The more good you throw out, the more you receive in return." - Josh S. Hinds

It's important to be nice. Far too often, it feels like the world lacks niceness. Niceness should be a necessary quality for leadership in the world we are living in today.  It's tough out there. A lot of hurts, a lot of pain, a lot of uncertainty. This COVID-19 pandemic continues to wreak havoc on our lives and grind on us as a civilization. 

We can never have enough kindness in the world. It needs to be molded into our day, into our lives, and into our workplace. We need to start our day on a positive note and intentionally seek opportunities to be nice and add kindness to someone else's day.  Without it, we will continue to live in an unhealthy, toxic environment. We must choose to be nice.

Here are 7 simple ways I've found being nice can bring you more happiness, joy, and success in your home or at work. You can start to encourage a culture of being nice to others by carrying out random acts of kindness during your day.

1. Be considerate to others: Acknowledge people in passing when you are out-and-about. Share. Think of others first. Be kind on the road when driving. 
2. Just smile: Many of us are working or communicating remotely via Zoom, BlueJeans, Microsoft Teams, Skype, Facetime. Whatever the vehicle, remember to smile. When you are out, even if wearing protective masks due to the pandemic, you can learn to smile with your eyes.
3. Be polite: Don't forget the little things. Saying "hello," or "good morning," or "have a great day" can go a long way.
4. Have an attitude of gratitude and thankfulness toward others: Acknowledge the contributions and efforts of others. Be thankful for everyone and everything around you. This is contagious.
5. Listen first, and listen to be amazed: They say God gave us two ears and only one mouth because we should listen twice as much as we speak. Everyone is amazing if we seek to understand them. Listen to be amazed. Often, what people need is not a brilliant mind that speaks but a special heart that listens.
6. Be supportive and helpful: Seek out ways to add value to other's lives daily. Live intentionally. Find ways to support and help others when they need it most.
7. Be fair and respectful: Treat everyone with the same level of respect. Everyone has an opinion. Everyone matters. Make sure everyone is treated equally and fairly.

Reach out and make a positive difference in someone's life today...not because you have to...but because you can! Little random acts of kindness might not be so little in the eyes of the person who desperately needs one.  You never know what others may be going through.  Everyone is fighting some kind of hard battle in their lives. Be kind and merciful.  Kind words can be short and easy to speak, but their echoes are truly endless.  Let no one ever come to you without coming away better and happier. Be more concerned about making others feel good about themselves than making them feel good about you, and strive to leave every personal interaction better than you found it.

Practice Random Acts of Kindness, always. Don't wait for people to be friendly; show them how. A person who truly does things that count doesn't usually stop to count them. Make things count!  You are never more like God than when you give when you take time for people or do something good for somebody who can never repay you. It's nice to be important, but it's more important to be nice!

Here's to all the people who get back up more times than they are knocked down. Who gives more than they ever expect to receive.  Who still show love to others even when their own heart is broken.  Who smile through the sad times.  Who lights the way for others.  Who spread laughter and joy.  Treat people as if they were what they ought to be, and you will help them become what they are capable of becoming. Thank you for making the world a better place. 

Make today great!

Curtis

"Each of us has a spark of life inside us, and our highest endeavor ought to be to set off that spark in one another." - Kenny Ausubel