It seemed as though I was awake all night…I think it was dreaming about babysitting for Madonna’s baby…that would do it…please don’t ask.
One of the benefits of being an ex-insomniac, not counting last night, is that I have a whole kit and caboodle of mantras to choose from. I learned long ago that it was perilous not to have something to fall back on during my extreme and lengthy period of night time wakefulness…usually leading to worrying about characters in books I’d read, or plays I’d seen or something else, equally ridiculous. It would seem I didn’t do serious worries in the middle of the night thank the Lord.
So last night I brought out my old playbook of mantras. Thank you, thank you, is a good one…not for anything in particular, just a general, overall, blanket thank you. Another great one for me is, I love my life. That feels pretty good if you’re awake at two, then three and four. When the mind gets tired of the repetition and wants to move into the nonsense worry zone, I can pull out any number of positive, feel good, short phrases. I had also learned to keep them short, having discovered they were more conducive to falling back to sleep than some long complicated phrase, that whilst getting applause for being positive, also gets a few boos for making my mind work a little harder and thus extending the already lengthy period of wakefulness.
When the alarm went off for my darling one at five a.m. I finally, and thankfully, fell asleep till six thirty. Needless to say, even after my morning constitutional, I was still a little spacey from lack of sleep. But I wasn’t to be stopped, I had a very important appointment…with my hairdresser.
Pulling off the highway and wanting to turn right, the roadway was blocked by a truck and a man waving everyone past him. His bonnet, I mean hood, was up and before you could say Jack Robinson, I had stopped and called him over to ask him if help was on its way. He seemed shocked, but managed to stammer that yes it was and thank you very much. And another thank you…and a third thank you. And yet…I’d done nothing.
I was shocked my own self. I hadn’t had a conscious thought about stopping, I just did it. But what did I intend to do?
Let’s look at your spark plugs, or maybe we could jump start your truck? Even the language I’m using tells you I KNOW NOTHING about cars…I can tell that this is photo of a toy truck, despite my limitations!
I could have called for help on my phone. See that’s what I could have done…I later told myself. But for the rest of my journey a quote kept popping into my head:
[success] Love and compassion are necessities, not luxuries. Without them, humanity cannot survive. ~ The Dalai Lama[/success]
If I’d been less spacey and more well rested, maybe my reasoning, conscious mind would have kicked into gear with a thought about stopping and then I might have rationalized that I was pretty useless around cars and I’m sure help would soon be on the way…everyone has cell phones these days. True and true.
But I would have missed an opportunity to simply extend a hand of loving kindness to a fellow traveller, even though I actually physically did nothing. And I would have missed the opportunity, tiny as it was, to experience the joy and happiness that even an offer of an act of loving kindness can bring. Helping others, or even offering to help others is truly it’s own reward.
If you remember the times you’ve extended loving kindness to others, maybe you made soup for a sick friend, or listened to somebody’s troubles, or coached a team…how did you feel?
What is there in simple kindnesses that are so nurturing to the soul? What is there in the comfort that we can offer one another that feels so darned good? When we help others we are actually helping ourselves, for it all becomes a part of our consciousness, the very essence of who we are.
Let’s value every act of kindness, however small and make loving kindness a constant part of our journey. In the expansion of kindness, we expand ourselves.
Encourage one another.
Love Elle.
xoxo
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9 Comments
Elle, your story provides a great reminder to express love and goodwill toward others. The sharing of your story provides a wonderful canvas that frames the point exquisitely. It definitely spoke to me today — thanks!
That makes me happy. Thank you Victor. 🙂
Thank you, Elle. The entire piece speaks to me, but especially this last line: “In the expansion of kindness, we expand ourselves.” An incredibly beautiful life affirmation:)
Thank you Joy. I am truly blessed by the kindness of comments. 🙂
It is quite astonishing how we talk ourselves out of these small yet powerful acts of kindness and compassion. And we do so without even knowing it . . . everyone has cell phones, I don’t want to block traffic, I don’t want to be late, glad that’s not me . . . All those excuses leaving us barren with no chance to express Love and receive gratitude. But not for you, not this time: well done ! Thank you.
Write on, Elle !
It’s all those little thoughts Joseph that add up to our action or inaction…and unless they are of love…then they must be of fear and we don’t need that in our life, now do we?
Dear Elle,
I just love those examples of “random” acts of kindness. Let me share some of my experience with you. When I broke off my engagement three months ago, a relationship filled with emotional abuse and blackmail, broke and brokenhearted I wrote to myself “I’m proud of you”. And I felt it. In the next couple of days almost everyone I know told me the same thing. I received words of encouragement from all kinds of places. With little money I had in my pocket I bought myself a necklace at a town fair, and the man who sold it to me asked me what my zodiac sign was. I told him, and he said that the stones the necklace is made of benefit my sign, and he said “we all find exactly what we need in life”. He encouraged me. When I was leaving my fiance, I told to myself “I don’t care if no one ever finds me beautiful again, if no one ever loves me again, I like the way I look, I like who I am, I don’t depend on other people’s impression.” I focused entirely on my thoughts and feelings and on rebuilding myself in a new way. I was just glad I’m me and had no desire to be anyone else. I felt my own strenght and some sort of peace. A few days ago a man selling umbrellas in the street came up to me and said “You are so beautiful and romantic”, and he kissed my hand. I thanked him (I too like you was always very clumsy when excepting compliments, but I excepted it, and he encouraged me, not so much with what he said, but with the fact that a stranger spoke lovely words to me, he felt the need to do something nice). When the whole town was snowed in, I walked the snowy streets, and I stumbled across a narrow path and snowy dunes I had to jump over. I saw a young man on the other side waiting for me to cross over so he could do the same. I started apologizing for being slow, but he reached out, gave me his hand and said “take your time”. I was so thankful. And encouraged. I needed someone to tell me just that. These acts of kindness always leave me with a feeling as if we are all put on this Earth in this exact moment to help one another and to teach one another lessons we ourselves are now always aware of. And, last but not least, there’s you, Elle. Your words also speak to me and give me encouragement just when I need it. Thank you. (This comment turned out pretty long, and I hope my english – as you probably noticed, not my mother tongue – successfully described my thoughts 🙂 )
Ana, what a wonderful story. It always touches my heart when I see the beauty inside being reflected in our world. As we begin to focus on how uniquely wonderful we all are, there it is, being shown to us in our everyday moments. 🙂
Oh, your English is great by the way.
Thanks 😉