Your Daily Brush: Noticing the People in Your Daily Life
Take a moment to reflect on the people whose names you may not know, but who are nevertheless part of the web of your lives because they make a difference.
Dear Friends,
Have you ever stopped to think about the street lights on your street - especially when they are working and have not gone out?
Some people are like street lights in our lives, in that they do their job in a steady way, serving others through their presence and actions.
One such person in my life is the crossing guard in the photo below. I don’t know her name but I see her each weekday when I step outside around the time a nearby school lets out.
Over time she has come to recognize me. At some point, I shifted from saying thank you to saying hello. That makes her smile so I keep doing that.
Once I heard a passerby who was crossing the street speak to her in a Chinese language. Some days after that observation, when I happened to be feeling playful and joyful, the word Xiexie — which means thank you in Mandarin — just came out of my mouth.
I don’t know the crossing guard’s name nor do I know how much Mandarin she speaks. But what I do know is that she understood the word for thank you, and that one word was like an icebreaker that led us further along the continuum of human connection; and this helped to make city life just a bit less anonymous.
Rx: Who are the human “streetlights” in your life? Who are the people who show up day after day, helping in small ways to make a big difference? Take a moment to appreciate them - either in terms of expressing gratitude for them silently or even better, pausing, looking them in the eye and letting them know that you see them and appreciate them for what they are doing.
Despite its simplicity, this a powerful action that offers uplifts for both parties. And the uplift serves to help brush their minds and yours.
To your health!
