The Underestimated Power of Kindness

Today we have a guest article by Steve Brunkhorst. Steve is a person I really look up to. He knows a lot about life and living and has a wonderful way of expressing his thoughts.

I hope you enjoy Steve's words.

The Underestimated Power of Kindness
By Steve Brunkhorst

It was a bright Saturday morning in the late fall. I had stopped at a cafe' to enjoy a cup of coffee and scan the morning newspaper. Suddenly, I felt a hand on the back of my jacket and heard someone say, "Hey Steve! How ya doin'?"

Looking up, I saw a boy wearing a mechanic's uniform worn by employees of the gasoline station next to the cafe'. He looked familiar, but, at first, I was unable to recall where we had met.

He also held a cup of coffee, so I asked him to join me. Very soon, his story--and probably my coffee--began to thaw out my memory.

Five years earlier, he had been traveling home late on a February night. He still had several of his friends with him. A ferocious blizzard had arrived that afternoon, and by midnight, the snowdrifts were getting deep. He recalled hitting a drift just down the road from my house.

He had walked to my house for help. I had taken my pickup and a towing rope and pulled him out of the snowdrift and up to the highway where maintenance trucks had cleaned away the snow.

This has been a common occurrence here during the winter. I cannot count the times someone has also pulled my car from a snowdrift.

However, it was an unforgettable experience for him. He was only eighteen at the time, and he described how frightened he had been. One would not want to be stuck all night in a storm like that one. Within a couple hours, my pickup would not have made it to the highway.

As it turned out, his memory and account of that snowy night was a very unexpected--and much appreciated--kindness toward me. I thanked him sincerely for stopping to chat during his break.

His memory of our unexpected meeting in a snowstorm brightened my entire day. Since then, we have had several chats over a Saturday morning cup of coffee.

"Leo Buscaglia wrote, "Too often we underestimate the power of a touch, a smile, a kind word, a listening ear, an honest compliment, or the smallest act of caring, all of which have the potential to turn a life around. Such simple actions can indeed have an underestimated power.

Many people desperately need kind words, smiles, and listening ears. They need ears that will hear without judging and respond without possessing.

One simple kindness at the right moment can change the direction of a life and shine a light of hope when all light seems to have gone out. Sometimes it has the power to save a life.

Here is a great quote that I keep in my e-journal. It was written by William Penn...

"I expect to pass through life but once. If therefore, there be any kindness I can show, or any good thing I can do to any fellow being, let me do it now, and not defer or neglect it, as I shall not pass this way again."

Make today a memorable day by sharing a smile or kind word with at least one other person. It is difficult to estimate the tremendous power and value that the simplest acts of kindness bring. However, they do not stop where they begin. Their underestimated power will continue to bring you a life of joy and memorable experiences.

© Copyright 2005 by Steve Brunkhorst. Steve is a professional life success coach, motivational author, and the editor of Achieve! 60-Second Nuggets of Inspiration, a popular mini-zine bringing great stories, motivational nuggets, and inspiring thoughts to help you achieve more in your career and personal life. Get the next issue by visiting http://www.AchieveEzine.com

Article Source: http://ezinearticles.com

Why Wait . . . ?

This came in my mail today. I have no idea who wrote it or I would give credit. It's a very thought provoking piece and I'd like to share it with you . . .

Too many people put off something that brings them joy just because they haven't thought about it, don't have it on their schedule, didn't know it was coming or are too rigid to depart from their routine.

I got to thinking one day about all those women on theTitanic who passed up dessert at dinner that fateful night in an effort to cut back. From then on, I've tried to be a little more flexible.

How many women out there will eat at home because their husband didn't suggest going out to dinner until after something had been thawed? Does the word "refrigeration" mean nothing to you? How often have your kids dropped in to talk and sat in silence while you watched 'Jeopardy' on television?

I cannot count the times I called my sister and said, "How about going to lunch in a half hour?" She would gas up and stammer, "I can't ... I have clothes on the line ... My hair is dirty ... I wish I had known yesterday ... I had a late breakfast
... It looks like rain." And my personal favorite: "It's Monday." She died a few years ago. We never did have lunch together.

Because Americans cram so much into their lives, we tend to schedule our headaches .... We live on a sparse diet of promises we make to ourselves when all the conditions are perfect! We'll go back and visit the grandparents when we get Steve toilet-trained. We'll entertain when we replace the living-room carpet. We'll go on a second honeymoon when we get two more kids out of college.

Life has a way of accelerating as we get older. The days get shorter, and the list of promises to ourselves gets longer. One morning, we awaken, and all we have to show for our lives is a litany of "I'm going to," "I plan on," and"Someday, when things are settled down a bit.

When anyone calls my 'seize the moment' friend, she is open to adventure and available for trips. She keeps an open mind on new ideas. Her enthusiasm for life is contagious. You talk with her for five minutes, and you're ready to trade your bad feet for a pair of rollerblades and skip an elevator for a bungee cord.

My lips have not touched ice cream in 10 years. I love ice cream. It's just that I might as well apply it directly to my stomach with a spatula and eliminate the digestive process. The other day, I stopped the car and bought a triple-decker. If my car had hit an iceberg on the way home, I would have died happy.

Now ... go on and have a nice day. Do something you WANT to ... not something on your SHOULD DO list. If you were going to die soon and had only one phone call you could make, who would you call and what would you say? And Why are you waiting?

Have you ever watched kids playing on a merry-go-round
or listened to the rain lapping on the ground?

Ever followed a butterfly's erratic flight
or gazed at the sun into the fading night?

Do you run through each day on the fly?
When you ask "How are you?" Do you hear the reply?

When the day is done, do you lie in your bed
with the next hundred chores running through your head?

Ever told your child, "We'll do it tomorrow."
And in your haste, not seen his sorrow?

Ever lost touch? Let a good friendship die?
Just call to say "Hi"?

When you worry and hurry through your day, it is like an unopened gift .... Thrown away .... Life is not a race. Take it slower. Hear the music before the song is over.

"Life may not be the party we hoped for... but while we are here we might as well dance!"
-- Author Unknown

Those Who Matter Most . . .

I read an interesting quote today. It said:

You cannot add to the peace and good will of the world
if you fail to create an atmosphere of harmony and love
right where you live and work.
-- Thomas Dreier

It's ironic that I happened upon this particular quote now because I'd been thinking about how we treat those who are the closest to us. Maybe it's because we feel the freedom to be ourselves with them, especially with our families. We know they'll likely put up with us however we act. Because of this we often take our bad moods out on them, snap at them, go around the house with a forbidding expression on our face that says "Approach at your own risk". In other words, we can be just downright grouchy and unreasonable.

If this happens only now and then, it's considered just being human and is overlooked by those who love us. However, if we make a habit of it we may find tension and unhappiness developing in our homes. No one likes to be used as a scapegoat for long, even if they do care about us. This applies to children as well as spouses.

The fact is we sometimes treat our families in a way that we would never consider treating a virtual stranger. Sometimes the tone of voice we use is rude and inconsiderate. Other times we don't listen to what's being said to us because we're too focused on our own issues. We may even treat the person who's speaking as an unwelcome interruption.

When these things happen, do we even stop to think about how we're making the other person feel? Most of the time I don't think we do. We are so wrapped up in our own thoughts that our actions don't penetrate our consciousness. If they do we may feel bad for a minute and promise ourselves that we'll be more considerate the next time. Seldom do we take a minute to apologize, set aside our own concerns and ask our wife, husband, child to go on with what they were saying.

Of course, not one of us is perfect. There are going to be instances when we mistreat the members of our family. That's not to say it's acceptable, only that it will happen. The secret is to make certain it doesn't happen often. And, when it does happen, we have to acknowledge that we're wrong ~ not just to ourselves but to the person we've injured with our unkindness.

We all want to know we're important, that our feelings are important. When we are continuously made to feel that we aren't, we start to believe it. This is especially true of children. If we don't give them the quality, as well as quantity, of time and attention they seek, they begin to think there's something wrong with them, that they don't deserve it. Then we have the making of an insecure person who doesn't believe in his or her own self worth. They don't realize that it's our problem, not theirs.

Even our spouses can begin to lose confidence if they are constantly treated as unwanted pests. Is that what we want? Of course not! We love our families and want each person to be happy and secure. But sometimes we make the mistake of thinking they should just know how we feel. That's a big mistake. People need to told how special they are to us, how much they're loved. And, even more importantly, they need to be made to feel it.

For that to take place, we have to show them through our actions that what they say and how they feel matters to us. Maybe you're up to your neck in alligators when your son comes home from school upset about what another boy said to him. Maybe you're bone-tired and looking forward to nothing but sleep when your wife is excited about being elected president of the women's professional club. What do you do in these cases?

The ideal answer is to put your own cares away and give your full attention to the matter at hand. But if you positively can't do that, you still need to let your family member know you care about what's happened and want to discuss it further; ask if it would be okay to take it up a little later after you've had a nap, resolved the current crisis, taken an aspirin for your blasting headache, etc. Then, be sure you do!

We've each made a commitment to our families to be there when they need us, to care about the things that affect them, to show our love and affection, and to put them at the top of our priority list. If we're successful in keeping those commitments we don't have to worry about having harmony and love in our homes. Once we've achieved that, the rest will take care of itself.