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Small Gestures of Love

The Hug
Creative Commons License photo credit: Auto­ma­nia

“Love builds bridges where there are none.” ~ R. H. Delaney

A smile.

Brush­ing the snow off some­one else’s car.

Tak­ing the time to really listen.

Walk­ing the dog.

Small ges­tures of love…

In the most recent Sun­day Thought For The Day post, there was a com­ment by Natalia that really stuck with me.  In part, she said ~

“Except for the word con­se­quences this quote makes me think of the lit­tle things that we can do for peo­ple. Small kind ges­tures that when paid for­ward could pos­si­bly change someone’s life!”

It’s the lit­tle things we do, day in and day out, that can truly make a dif­fer­ence for some­one else.  It doesn’t have to take a lot of our time.  It doesn’t have to take any of our money.  Sim­ple.  Small.  Love in action.

You’ll get out of life what you put into it.  Sure, some days it may not seem like that.  Some days you may ques­tion why you even try to be nice.  Yet, in this jour­ney we’re on, on this path we’re tak­ing through life — what is it that really binds us together?  It’s love, in all it’s forms.  And that includes love for our neigh­bors,  our friends, a stranger pass­ing in the night…

What could our world be like?  What if there was more love?  Less indif­fer­ence?  More car­ing?  Less hatred?  More under­stand­ing?  Less malcontent?

Every­day we can make a dif­fer­ence.  Every­day we can be a light onto the world.  Every­day we can offer up small ges­tures of love.

Look­ing for some­place to get started?  Try out this idea!

We all have the same 24 hours in every day.  How we use them is up to us.  Today is your day!  Today is your moment to bring bright­ness to those in your com­mu­nity, to those in your world!  One small ges­ture at a time…

Lance writes sto­ries from his heart, aim­ing to inspire and moti­vate, as you align more fully with YOUR true peak. When he’s not here, you can find him hang­ing out with his fam­ily, rid­ing a bike, or just gen­er­ally act­ing goofy.   Sign up for the Thoughts from the Tree­house newslet­ter and get addi­tional inspi­ra­tion in your email inbox!
Lance Ekum
View all posts by Lance Ekum

Comments

  1. Miz says:

    I love natalia.
    and that’s my ges­ture for today. NAT? you hear me? I appre­ci­ate you and I hope Ive told you that before.

    and you Lance.
    for always get­ting my day kicked off in the right fashion/mindset.

    Miz´s last blog post..Let’s burn some calo­ries & stoke that meta­bolic fire!

  2. Liara Covert says:

    I believe bridges exist every­where. It is a case of human beings choos­ing not to notice what is already there right in front of them. Love is like a kind of anti­dote that prompts peo­ple to open their senses that had inad­ver­tently closed. As you say, peo­ple will get out of life some­thing com­pa­ra­ble to what they pre­sume they put in. This will be immea­sur­able and imper­cep­ti­ble until the time when peo­ple choose otherwise.

    Liara Covert´s last blog post..Barack Obama & 10 lessons to excel in your life

  3. Jay says:

    It is wild how peo­ple who con­nect on a daily basis end up writ­ing sim­u­lar things. Last week 3 peo­ple I read wrote about the inner child. Today you wrote this and I wrote my post con­cern­ing a sim­i­lar topic. If any­one doubts we are con­nected, I implore them to take a look at the blog­ging com­mu­nity and watch how with­out dis­cus­sion, our thoughts are comin­gled. It is very cool. Thanks Lance.

    Jay´s last blog post..The Rip­ple Effect

  4. Last week my for­tune cookie said that I should focus more on help­ing oth­ers. And then here’s your post.

    It doesn’t take a lot to brighten someone’s day. Lit­tle things make a huge difference.

    Keep smil­ing!

    Jewel/Pink Ink´s last blog post..Why Pink (Ink)

  5. Jennifer says:

    Lance, you have taught me many times over about the impor­tance of these small ges­tures both by words and by exam­ple. On Sun­day at church, I was think­ing about the impor­tance of this and how I want to shed more light in the world. At the end of class a lady dropped a big stack of papers. I thought, “Here’s a chance.” So I went over and bent down and picked it up for her. She was grate­ful, but her hus­band was almost speech­less. He said, “Peo­ple don’t do that any­more. That is so rare.” It just goes to show the impor­tance and impact of these “lit­tle” things.

    Thank you Lance for help­ing me shed more light. Your light is being passed on to the world in many ways.

    Jennifer´s last blog post..Do Bad Things Hap­pen to Good People?

  6. Mark says:

    Yes it is all of the lit­tle things that we do that make a dif­fer­ence. The key is what type of dif­fer­ence do we intend to make. In the end there is no dif­fer­ence between the lit­tle things and the big things for all things affect us. The inau­gu­ra­tion of Obamba today is not one big thing, it is the result of many lit­tle things.

    Mark´s last blog post..Beliefs and Experiences

  7. Hi Lance

    I am always aware of kind acts and try to lead a car­ing life. But one thing I have never under­taken is “anony­mous” kindness.

    Per­haps this is the time.

    Juliet

    Life­Made­Great | Juliet´s last blog post..Would You Choose To Be Immortal?

  8. You’ll get out of life what you put into it”. I’m really start­ing to feel that now. It’s sow­ing and reap­ing and it’s so easy to see that in action with love.

    Brod­er­ick Allen´s last blog post..Per­sis­tence

  9. bobbi says:

    cute pic! Well last fri­day I wanted to spread the love so I took a cup of sbux to my dear­est friend Melissa at her work, she was so sur­prised and felt so loved! I know that Ran­dom Acts of Kind­ness is one of my love lan­guages so I love to do the same for oth­ers, but some­times get to wrapped up in the crazi­ness of life!

    bobbi´s last blog post..Tues­day Feed Your Soul: Yoga

  10. Kim says:

    I love the lit­tle signs of love. They’re the ones that feel most true. The big signs require plan­ning. The lit­tle ones are just who we are.

    Love you!

    Kim´s last blog post..His­tor­i­cal Day

  11. Lance, don’t you love the way the Uni­verse coop­er­ates when you set an inten­tion to do some­thing. Since I made the com­mitt­ment to work on giv­ing out more acts of kind­ness in 2009, reminders have come to me from many of the blog arti­cles that I have been reading.

    Patri­cia — Spir­i­tual Jour­ney Of A Lightworker´s last blog post..Kindness—Why Is It Eas­ier To Be Kind To Strangers?

  12. If we could believe the lit­tle ges­tures really do mat­ter, I think life could appear less over­whelm­ing. Grand ges­tures aren’t nec­es­sar­ily better…and they cause too much stress. Lit­tle things count…Thank you for the uplift­ing thoughts again!

    Stacey Shipman´s last blog post..Got Stress? Use it to Your Advantage

  13. Mark Salinas says:

    It’s the lit­tle things we do, day in and day out, that can truly make a dif­fer­ence for some­one else. It doesn’t have to take a lot of our time. It doesn’t have to take any of our money. Sim­ple. Small. Love in action.” <—- YES, YES! I like the idea of putting notes on the cars. Another that I like to do is buy the cof­fee for the indi­vid­ual behind me at Star­bucks. Thanks Lance!

  14. Audra Krell says:

    Hi Lance,
    Happy Day to you! It’s a great day — yes?

    I have been think­ing a lot about the lit­tle things lately. Often we are shocked at how a few lit­tle words can dev­as­tate a life, some­times for­ever. Your post reminds us that a few lit­tle words, can also change and add to a life, often times for­ever. Thanks Lance, for another great post!

    Audra Krell´s last blog post..Amer­i­can Idol Last Night

  15. Marelisa says:

    Hi Lance: About a week ago I was stand­ing at a cash reg­is­ter in a cafe­te­ria pay­ing for a sand­wich I had just ordered. I was count­ing to see if I had exact change and since I didn’t have it, I told the lady that was ring­ing me up and reached into my purse to pull out a bill. The man stand­ing behind me under­stood that I didn’t have enough money to pay for the sand­wich and offered to give me the money I needed. Even though I didn’t need it, I was touched by the fact that he so read­ily offered to help. Doing lit­tle things for other peo­ple can def­i­nitely add up.

  16. This is a beau­ti­ful sentiment.I love the quote you used.
    It brings to mind when my boyfriend left the line he was in at the bank– to help an elderly lady with a walker,having trou­ble with the door.
    The bank was full but he left his place to help her out and on to the sidewalk.She was so grate­ful to him.He said her smile was com­pared to a bright August sun.
    This was his reward before return­ing to the back of the line inside a crowded bank.
    Sad thing was no one even closer to the door offered her assis­tance and when he came back in no one offered his place back to him.

    Bunny got Blog´s last blog post..Stop! In The Name Of Love

  17. Aw thanks for the men­tion Lance and Miz, you know I love you back!! :)

    In this age it’s very easy to get caught up in a sense of enti­tle­ment. Push­ing our way past peo­ple, not let­ting peo­ple out in front of us. Get­ting angry when the guy in front of us acci­den­tally gets in the wrong lane and slows us up for a sec­ond. How dare they!

    I have been try­ing VERY hard to slow down and get out of self. I may be hav­ing a crappy day, but I betcha some­one out there has it much worse than me!

    Tak­ing the time to hold a door open, pay for the guys order behind you at the drive thru, allow a car to go ahead of you even though you are in a hurry, well, it’s so easy to do and it could really make a dif­fer­ence in the day of the life of a stranger! Not to men­tion you get the ben­e­fit of feel­ing all warm and happy inside too!

    I am all for ran­dom acts of kindness.

    Great post Lance! I always look for­ward to read­ing your blog. I find it very uplift­ing. You are a bless­ing in my life that I’m very thank­ful for! :)

    Natalia Burleson´s last blog post..New Begin­nings!

  18. Mindful Mimi says:

    Hi Lance,
    It’s all about this isn’t it? I think this is the secret to a happy life and a bet­ter world. Lit­tle ges­tures are the wings of a but­ter­fly which cause an avalanche (lit­er­ally and fig­u­ra­tively) on the other side of the world (or just around the cor­ner).
    The touch of a hand (my post today), a sim­ple thank you or a lit­tle note behind a stranger’s wind­shield (I love that idea — although some­one might think they have a stalker here).
    Thanks for the reminder, which we need constantly.

    Mind­ful Mimi´s last blog post..The touch of a hand…

  19. Great post!
    Res­onates a lot with John Wooden’s “Love Is The Most Pow­er­ful Four-Letter Word.”

    Alik Levin | PracticeThis.com´s last blog post..Ask Your Cus­tomers’ Friends — Your Growth Hides There

  20. What Miz said. You always inspire me to do bet­ter, or at least to try.

    Being kind to my kids and to my hus­band is easy. I guess the real chal­lenge is doing small acts of kind­ness that affect strangers.

  21. Really love this thought.
    To some peo­ple, this comes really nat­u­rally. It’s in their nature and they don’t actu­ally think of it as doing some­thing for oth­ers.
    Even just giv­ing a smile to some­one as you walk past can lift some­one — well it works for me anyway!

    Tara@Sticky Fingers´s last blog post..A rant

  22. Very Evolved says:

    Lance you always seem to close your posts well — we all have the same 24 hours as every­one else.

    I look around the other com­men­ta­tors sites and see how they spend their time — it’s inspir­ing and makes me want to make sure I’m spend­ing my time con­tribut­ing as much.

    No ques­tions on how well you’re spend­ing your 24hrs Lance.

    Patrick
    Fol­low the Herd

    Very Evolved´s last blog post..Fol­low the Herd. How behav­ior and sto­ries spread through online crowds

  23. B J Keltz says:

    Hi, Lance. :)

    I have the oppor­tu­nity most days to “give” away a cup of cof­fee or foun­tain drink. I try to be ran­dom about it, but I’m also a softie. Any­one com­ing in who looks sad or stressed usu­ally gets it. I also don’t charge my reg­u­lars for refills on Mon­day mornings…Mondays are hard enough! Because of the appre­ci­a­tion these peo­ple show (and most do, but some don’t, and I feel for them), I’ve kept my eyes open for other ways to extend a lit­tle ran­dom kindness…letting a fraz­zled mother go ahead of me in the gro­cery store check out, writ­ing a note of praise to my staff, bring­ing my hus­band a lit­tle treat from work…the more I prac­tice it, the more ways I find!

    I’m off to visit the blogs of many of your commentors.

    B J Keltz´s last blog post..We are Book People

  24. brandi says:

    you know me, I’m all about the lit­tle ges­tures of love.

    :-)

    like this one!
    http://lovingtheexperiment.blogspot.com/2009/01/love-notes-to-world-are-done.html

    brandi´s last blog post..kids, mommy wants to tell you a story about when she was cool…

  25. Daphne says:

    Lance, your tim­ing is uncanny. Just this morn­ing my BF made some cof­fee and though I didn’t have time to drink it, he put it into a take-away cup for me. When I said how sweet that was, he just looked at me and said “It’s the lit­tle things”. Then I saw your post. I know exactly what you are talk­ing about. Thanks for this post — you made me share a bit about my per­sonal life, and I don’t usu­ally do that, but your post was just too spot on.

    @ Brandi, I went to your link and loved the idea of love notes. Tried to leave a com­ment but the page wouldn’t load so I’m leav­ing one here — what you’re doing is beautiful!

    Daphne´s last blog post..How Does Your Life Script Read?

  26. Lance says:

    @Miz — Natalia is awe­some! Thanks, Miz!! …and your a one-of-a-kind spe­cial too!

    @Liara — Love makes bridges over every stream of being. Some­times those bridges are there, and we don’t even seem them. Thanks, Liara — your words always make me think deeper.

    @Jay — We are a con­nected world, yes we are! That you wrote a sim­i­lar story today, just really shows how this con­nec­tion is there. Thank you, Jay, for shar­ing your story, too — a very per­sonal one, and I’m sure it was not easy to write.

    @Jewel — Hey, that’s pretty cool, Jewel!! (and it rhymes!) Lit­tle things can be huge — like that smile!

    @Jennifer — Thank you, Jen­nifer. And, what a nice thing you did — so sim­ple, yet I’m sure it was a big help for her. And I find this to be very uplift­ing. And yet, sad. Sad — in that we’ve come to not expect this from oth­ers because — as the hus­band said — “Peo­ple don’t do that any­more.” Sad that we don’t take the time to offer a small bit of help. What did it take you, 15 sec­onds, 30 sec­onds, a minute tops? Who can’t spare that to help some­one else? We get caught up and don’t notice, or get too focused on what we’re doing. You were, you are, a light Jennifer…

    @Mark/ToBeMe — Great exam­ple of the Obama inau­gu­ra­tion — a big thing that really was the result of many both small and large things. It all mat­ters, every­thing we do…

    @Juliet — Per­haps this is the time, Juliet — anony­mous kind­ness — I’m not sure I’ve done that much of it either…maybe it’s time for me as well.

    @Broderick — Get­ting out what you put in — it is true. Maybe some days won’t feel like it, maybe some days will be rough — yet there are great things await­ing those who are doing great things today — and that’s def­i­nitely the lit­tle things as well!

  27. Lance says:

    @Bobbi — Very nice thing to do, Bobbi! I’m sure it was a real sur­prise — and one whe wel­comed and enjoyed very much. Ran­dom Acts of Kind­ness as a love lan­guage — very cool!

    @Kim — The lit­tle signs of love being who we really are — I like that very much Kim! It’s a won­der­ful way to look at love!

    @Patricia — Spir­i­tual Jour­ney of a Light­worker — That is so awe­some, Patri­cia! The Uni­verse is work­ing in mys­te­ri­ous ways to bring it all together for you!

    @Stacey Ship­man — …and the lit­tle things don’t seem so over­whelm­ing — that’s such an impor­tant point. That which seems over­whelm­ing is less likely to hap­pen. Yet, if it doesn’t seem so — then these lit­tle ges­tures become easy — once we start doing them.

    @Mark Sali­nas — The notes on cars is a pretty cool idea! Or pick­ing up the tab for cof­fee, or maybe at a drive-thru. So many lit­tle things we could do — only lim­ited by our imagination!

    @Audra — Hi Audra! Today is a very great day! Words can be pow­er­ful — either neg­a­tively or pos­i­tively pow­er­ful. And that’s some­thing very impor­tant to remem­ber — how what we say can have such an effect. I know you use words that are affirm­ing and uplift­ing — and really inspire and lead peo­ple to great heights — and that’s very awe­some Audra!

    @Marelisa — Hi Mare. A sim­ple act — and even though you didn’t need it — just the act of offer­ing — was a spe­cial moment! I’m guess­ing you left there feel­ing pretty upbeat, and so did he!

    @Bunny — Bridge being built by love — that is won­der­ful, isn’t it! Your boyfriend did a won­der­ful thing — and yet — should it seem won­der­ful? Was there a day, in a dis­tant past — where this would have been the norm — where we wouldn’t have thought it spe­cial? It is spe­cial, and it is won­der­ful. And it’s sad that no one esle offered to help, and no one offered his spot back… This reminds me of the song “Any­way” by Mar­tina McBride — about doing things any­way, even though we might get hurt (or lose our place in line)…

  28. Lance says:

    @Natalia — Your wel­come Natalia, and really — thank you for spurring this post on! Enti­tle­ment! That’s a great point — think­ing we’re enti­tled to our spot in line, or enti­tled to pre­ferred treat­ment because of our sta­tus, or enti­tled to what­ever we think of. And, as bad as our day is today — it’s prob­a­bly worse for some­one else — and that per­son — were we to come across them — could prob­a­bly use our help. If we’d just look for it. Con­tinue to be ran­dom and kind Natalia!

    @Mindful Mimi — That’s the thing — we never really know for sure just how far reach­ing our lit­tle ges­tures of love can be. And wheter they reach around the cor­ner, or around the world — they are so worth it. The notes on the wind­shield — that is an awe­some idea, isn’t it! Thank you Mimi!

    @Alik — Thanks much! Love is a pow­er­ful four-letter word — I love that idea (and I see I used the word love!)!!

    @Vered — Thanks so much, Vered! It is easy to be kind with close fam­ily — and then some­times, I find, it’s easy to be not so kind with them too. It’s an area I can def­i­nitely work on…

    @Tara — Hi Tara! A sim­ple smile sure can brighten someone’s step — and it’s so easy to do. Yes, it does seem to come more nat­u­rally to some — and yet — I also think this is some­thing that the more we do it, the eas­ier it becomes too.

    @Very Evolved — Thanks Patrick! Really, thank you very much! See, some­thing like this, a short com­ment left here for me — has bright­ened my day. Yours. And every­one else who has left one here!

    @BJ — Hi BJ. Well, this is really very cool! A ran­dom cof­fee given away on most days — what a great feel­ing that must be. And for your reg­u­lars on Monday’s — gosh, no won­der you’re smil­ing in your pic­ture! I don’t know — I think you are just doing awe­some at this con­cept of “small ges­tures of love” — we could all learn so much from you! Thanks so much for shar­ing your own expe­ri­ences here — they really are very inspiring!

    @Brandi — Lit­tle ges­tures of love, Brandi…keep on doin’ it! And…I’ll be check­ing out the link, thanks!

    @Daphne — Uncanny, huh? Aw, that was very nice of him to do (and the “lit­tle things” — he knows — I’d say he’s a keeper!). And, Daphne, thank you for shar­ing a lit­tle per­sonal story with us — I love it! See­ing you this way is won­der­ful! And now you’re really mak­ing me want to check out Brandi’s link!!

  29. Evelyn Lim says:

    Your post reminds me about the Val­i­da­tion movie I put up on my site a month ago. We can most cer­tainly spread love as sim­ple as telling some­one how great they are. Sin­cerely, of course!

    I’m also lik­ing the fact that per­sonal devel­op­ment sites across the blo­gos­phere are all singing the same mes­sages. Col­lec­tively, we can do more to effect a rise in con­scious­ness. Change we can believe in.

    Eve­lyn Lim´s last blog post..HAVE-DO-BE or BE-DO-HAVE?

  30. LisaNewton says:

    Just a sim­ple smile and a thank you is enough to put a lit­tle spark in someone’s oth­er­wise down day.

    I try to do this every­time I get.

    LisaNewton´s last blog post..Walkin’ Santa Mon­ica Boule­vard in Bev­erly Hills

  31. My one small ges­ture is to com­pli­ment you on your thoughts. You always have a way of reach­ing me when I’m stressed out and strug­gling with life. I’m build­ing for my future, but in the mean time I can still take time to offer a great morn­ing to a co-worker or offer to cook for my wife, so she can stay off her feet.

    We have to seize these oppor­tu­ni­ties, not let them slide by.

    Karl — Work Happy Now´s last blog post..Open and Hon­est Communication

  32. Jenny says:

    I’ve done this, in our recent snow storms, twice after work I stayed later and cleaned off cars for oth­ers who were still work­ing so that maybe after their long day, they didn’t have to be out in the cold to clean their cars. I didn’t do it for praise, doubt they even knew it was me, but it made me feel good!

    Jenny´s last blog post..Some­thing To Believe In

  33. Hi Lance,
    It is very impor­tant for us to always take ges­tures of love to oth­ers. How­ever, it even more impor­tant that we take ges­tures of love toward our­selves as a pri­or­ity. If we want to give love to other, first we have to have love within. Think about it this way. We are the soil, and what ever we wish to give out are our plants. Just like you can’t grow tomato, in soil that has no nutri­tion. Every­thing start within..

    Gio­vanna Garcia´s last blog post..There is hope for everyone!

  34. Lance says:

    @Evelyn — When done sin­cerely, small ges­tures really mean so much. Sin­cer­ity is a great point, Eve­lyn. If w’re not sin­cere, we come across as fake — and that’s not good for any­one. The “Val­i­da­tion” movie is a great exam­ple of peo­ple really desir­ing these small ges­tures in their life. We all do!

    @LisaNewton — And how easy is that — say­ing “thank you”, or offer­ing a smile? We can all do that, any­time — and make a real difference…

    @Karl — Thank you, Karl! And yes — there are all sorts of things we can do to make oth­ers lives eas­ier. Great exam­ples, and I bet your wife really appre­ci­ates all you do for her!

    @Jenny — Very cool, Jenny! Doing some­thing like this — brush­ing the snow off another’s car — will be a spe­cial sur­prise for them — and it leaves you feel­ing really good! A win-win!

    @Giovanna — Oh, great point Gio­vanna! Start­ing from within, self-care, lov­ing our­selves — that is so impor­tant. The soil exam­ple is so per­fect for this. If our “soil” — our inter­nal mech­a­nisms — are aligned — our soil is rich — and what we give out grows in such won­der­ful ways!

  35. kathy says:

    Lance
    Your reminder that we get out of life what we put into it is so true. When we send love out it comes back mul­ti­plied. When we send out pos­i­tive energy, every­one around us feels good. Lit­tle acts of love and kind­ness, whether ran­dom or planned for some­one spe­cial, send out tons of pos­i­tive energy.

    kathy´s last blog post..Stop Com­plain­ing! Can you make it to 21 days?

  36. Rupal says:

    Lance,

    Thanks for this..again! I love vis­it­ing your site and being reminded that there is so much great­ness in this world! Love this mes­sage and real­ize more and more that a small ges­ture of kind­ness really does go a long way!

    Rupal´s last blog post..Crowd Pusher!

  37. Dot says:

    This is a very nice idea. My favorites for friends and those I work with is either to encour­age them if they’re need­ing encour­age­ment, or to make them laugh. For strangers, I like to open doors for peo­ple. I once cleaned the snow off my neighbor’s car — she has rheuma­toid arthri­tis. And another neigh­bor did the same for me.

    Dot´s last blog post..Wel­come to Wash­ing­ton, Mr. President

  38. Henie says:

    Hi Lance!

    The great­est lit­tle ges­tures for me are the ones you tell no one about. Know­ing that I’ve helped some­one with a hug, smile or any­thing else for that mat­ter, is enough and need not be told.

    As always, you evoke and invoke…thanks so much, my friend!

  39. Small ges­tures of kind­ness and con­cern can mean so much. When I was hav­ing a rough time in my 20s, I received and a let­ter of encour­age­ment that ended with a sim­ple “keep your chin up.” At the time, it altered my whole perspective.

    SpaceAgeSage — Lori´s last blog post..Gra­cious­ness doesn’t fit into a box

  40. Laurie says:

    I don’t believe we real­ize the power we have to either love some­one or tear them down. Some­times it seams riskier to put your­self out there and give the love when self pro­tec­tion seems to be the more nat­ural thing to do. Thanks for the encour­age­ment to risk Lance.

  41. Fit Mommy says:

    Thank you. That was great. Love the pic­ture too.

    Fit Mommy´s last blog post..Help!

  42. rummuser says:

    Lance, this is eerie. I was just think­ing about this topic and I come across your post! I have been notic­ing that my father tries to do small things for me and my wife all the time. He is con­vinced that I am over worked and so offers to do var­i­ous things at home. These offers are so touch­ing and affec­tion­ate that I have no words to express my emo­tions. I do not allow him if I can, as he is not very steady on his feet, but the offers are indeed priceless.

  43. rummuser says:

    This is weird. My ear­lier post did not get the com­mentluv but this one shows! This has hap­pened in a few other blogs too.

    rummuser´s last blog post..The “Cute” Patriarch.

  44. Evita says:

    Hi Lance!

    Beau­ti­ful mes­sage and beau­ti­ful picture!

    Whether anony­mous or not, you know how I feel about ideas like this — they are indeed an amaz­ing way to live.

    We just can never take for granted the impact our words or actions have on oth­ers. And the best part is, is that we come in con­tact with peo­ple every­day and at every moment we have the choice to act kindly and out of love or not. In my view, there is no “right” or “wrong” choice — there is just the choice that will bring us to expe­ri­ence a higher ver­sion of our­selves than we have ever known or not.

    Evita´s last blog post..Book Review: Walk­ing Through Walls

  45. Thanks for the reminder, Lance. I know how often a smile or a word of encour­age­ment has made a dif­fer­ence in my day.

    That photo is absolutely adorable, too, and makes me think of my chil­dren — when they’re actu­ally being nice to each other ;-) .

  46. Won­der­ful Lance. Thank you for this and for your won­der­ful haven of a blog.

    Jan­nie Funster´s last blog post..And the ukulele song win­ner is…

  47. Arswino says:

    Beau­ti­ful quote and poem, Lance. Truly inspir­ing.
    I like when you said every­day we can make a dif­fer­ence. I also remem­ber your com­ment a few days ago that said : maybe leav­ing a com­ment on the someone’s arti­cle is a small ges­ture for us but could bring a great mean­ing for them.
    Thanks Lance. :)

    Arswino´s last blog post..3 Ways to Strengthen Perseverance

  48. Cricket says:

    I have this thing for old peo­ple. I know they need a smile and a touch. When I have given this each day I feel like I have helped some­one in a sim­ple way.

    Cricket´s last blog post..Val­i­da­tion

  49. Lance says:

    @Kathy — The pos­i­tive energy and love that we send out — all of this does come back to us! It is very uplifting!

    @Rupal — Thanks, Rupal! The small really do go along way, and it’s because, I think, that’s what feel per­sonal to oth­ers — and devel­op­ing that per­sonal con­nec­tion is such a bond.

    @Dot — Great exam­ples, all of them, Dot — thanks for shar­ing this all here. Some­times our small ges­tures are as sim­ple as encour­ag­ing some­one. A few words of encour­age­ment can really go a long way, when it’s just what some­one needed to hear. And you never know when that’s the case — some­one need­ing some extra encouragement.

    @Henie — Doinng some small act “anony­mously” really is pow­er­ful. And that’s for both the one doing the act, and the one receiv­ing. Thank you, Henie — you have a way of doing this…

    @SpaceAgeSage — Lori — Thanks for shar­ing this time ear­lier in your life, Lori. That’s a great exam­ple of what a small ges­ture really can do. Powerful!

    @Laurie — Putting your­self “out there” can feel very risky! Our words and actions are pow­er­ful — for good or for bad. And that’s a point well worth remem­ber­ing also.

    @Fit Mommy — Thanks much Rachel!

    @Rummuser — That’s a real gift of love from your father, Ramana. Trea­sure those moments. In regards to the com­mentluv issue — I’ve noticed that also, and I’m not sure what’s caus­ing it.

    @Evita — Thank you, so much, Evita. Yes, I know — this is some­thing you con­nect with. I think many of us do — con­nect with this con­cept. The real thing is doing it. And that I know you do, as well. You’re so right — we are pre­sented with a myr­iad of oppor­tu­ni­ties to do this every day. And we have the choice (our choice) on what to do — to act out of love, or not. And reach­ing for the higher ver­sion of our­selves — what a won­der­ful place to reach for!

    @Dara — That’s a great way to think about this. To think about times in our life when we have been impacted by receiv­ing some of these small ges­tures — and then to recall how that made us feel. Think­ing that way, we really can let this con­cept sink into our souls…and then go out and spread that good. I loved this photo too. It’s not mine…because I think I’d be hard-pressed to get a photo like that of all three! We do have this pic­ture from this past sum­mer while we were on vaca­tion — all three in a group hug pic­ture — and it’s one I trea­sure very much. (prob­a­bly because it doesn’t hap­pen very often!)

    @Jannie — Thank you, Jan­nie, so much — for all you say and do…

    @Arswino — Thank you, very much, Arswino. And, thanks for remem­ber­ing what I have wrote in the past — this really means a lot to me. Com­ments can be so pow­er­ful — and it only has to take a minute of your time — and that minute really can mean the world to the receiver of that comment.

    @Cricket — You have a good heart, Tammy. It shines through in every­thing you write. You’re leav­ing small ges­tures every­where you go. Thank you!

  50. Tony says:

    You have a great point here, it’s time that the com­mu­nity val­ues were put back into life, the small things that we can do for each other, while not cost­ing us much in effort, can really make a dif­fer­ence to other people’s lives.

    The new Pres­i­dent said in his inau­garal speech that we all need to look out for each other dur­ing these times of eco­nomic lows, but it’s not just a case of maybe tak­ing a cut in wages so that a fel­low worker might keep their job, it’s also just the sim­ple things, such as help­ing an elder­ley neigh­bor to clear snow from their yard, pick­ing up lit­ter, or car­ry­ing heavy bags for someone.

    You never know when you might be in need of some­one else to give you a help­ing hand, so be nice and start rack­ing up those brownie points now while you can.

    Good deeds tend to rub off, as seen very well in the new series of Libery Mutual tele­vi­sion com­mer­cials, where­one per­son does a good deed and inspires the next to fol­low suit. We all need to be like that.

    Tony´s last blog post..Email From The Con­sular Infor­ma­tion Unit Arrived!!

  51. Vikum says:

    Hi Lance :-) ,

    Thanks to Daphne.Because her inter­view made me curi­ous about your blog and finally i found you here.How lucky I am to read awe­some thoughts and posts like this.I really like your posts.These things expose your inner self and your kind heart.Thanks once again and I’ll be fre­quently com­ing here.

  52. Jen says:

    Hi Lance! Thanks for stop­ping by my blog, I am VERY happy I found yours!! It’s amaz­ing, so uplift­ing and insight­ful! :)

    Jen´s last blog post..Mighty To Save

  53. What’s with you clos­ing your com­ments lately?

    Suc­cess Factors´s last blog post..A Les­son in Cool: What Miles Davis Taught Us About Success

  54. Cricket says:

    I had to come back over to share. My teen son actu­ally approached a old lady at the gro­cery store yes­ter­day to see if she needed help with the gro­ceries to her car. I didn’t men­tion a word to him. I was stand­ing still in amaze­ment. Oh, I think I had a moment of “I must be doing some­thing right!.”

    Cricket´s last blog post..My week for thought

  55. Sara says:

    Lance,

    I agree totally with you. I know from my own expe­ri­ence that being kind and lov­ing in small doses can be pow­er­ful and life alter­ing. The Uni­verse is like a bank; you get back what you put in with interest…and as see this bank, actions are more valu­able than money!

    Thanks for a beau­ti­ful post.

    Sara´s last blog post..Blog­ging: Choos­ing Your Avatar

  56. Love really is found in the lit­tle things of every­day life. It’s too easy to for­get that. I thought is strange that we are very polite to com­plete strangers, yet rude and unkind to those we love. Show­ing love helps keep a nice bal­ance. :)

    Jamie Simmerman´s last blog post..Change is Good

Trackbacks

  1. […] Jun­gle of Life, Inner­Noo­dle (How to Change a Life for the Bet­ter), and Spir­i­tual Jour­ney of a Light­worker (love that term!) all spoke about kind­ness.  Do I have more to add to the con­ver­sa­tion?  Hmmm…not a lot.  They are right, and the world could use a lot more. Check them out. […]

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