Brighten at least one person's day, everyday.

...to mark this as completed. I have incorporated the habit of saying and doing things that I feel will pick other people up into my daily life.

It’s usually something small. It’s usually a look, a smile, a word, or something equally mundane, but I can generally tell, mostly from the person’s eyes, that they appreciated my effort.

I had a moment today that underscores what I’m talking about. My great-uncle (96 years old) fell down and broke his hip two days ago. So my aunt brought him to St. Mary’s Hospital and on our way out of town today, my mom and I stopped in to see him.

After our visit, on the elevator ride down, I said hi to a lady in her mid to upper 50’s. I then asked her, “How are you doing?”

She looked at me and a tear started running down her face. “I’m not doing good at all,” she said.

I looked her in the eyes and let her feel that I cared. “Do you have anyone to talk to?” I asked her.

“Yes, I do.” She nodded slightly, and stood up a little straighter.

I told her that I’d be thinking good thoughts about her, in cast that sort of stuff helps.

Now, that was just a tiny encounter and it might not seem like I did very much for her, but without spending a single penny, I let her know that someone she doesn’t even know cares what happens to her.

Not only that, but I GOT to be on cloud nine the rest of the afternoon. Yeah, I’d rather err on the side of kindness any day.

The problem with this goal is that you don’t always know when you have brightened someone’s day. And truly, a goal like this shouldn’t be about measurable statistics anyway.

The bottom line, for me at least, is that I try to be alert for opportunities to brighten someone else’s day and whether or not I’m as successful as I’d like to be with this task, I do believe that I’m more successful than I sometimes realize.

Every once in awhile, I get an email or note from someone telling me what an inspiration I am to them. It usually comes at a time when I feel like I’m anything but an inspiration and does an amazing job of lifting me out of my funk.

So, if you care about brightening other people’s days or care about being an inspiration or care about doing the best job you can, if you care, you probably are already doing a better job than you realize.

My dad lives in an assisted living environment. Across the hall from him, lives a wonderful senior named Alice. She’s an amazing lady and Irish as shamrocks and leprechauns. So, even though she’s getting up there in years and not in the best physical shape, she decided to put together a little St. Patty’s Day party.

She arranged everything herself, including the entertainment. She asked my dad and a lady named Ruth to tell jokes, she asked the Senior Lead Care, Carol, to read some stories, and she asked her daughters and myself to sing.

Now I’m not going to give Billy Joel any competition, but I have a relatively fair range and can carry a tune so she asked if I knew anything Irish to sing. I ran through the few songs I know in their entirety and then it hit me which one I should do. Danny Boy.

Oh Danny Boy, the pipes, the pipes are calling. From glen to glen, and down the mountainside. The summer’s gone, and all the roses, falling. It’s you, it’s you, must go and I must bide.

Anyway, so I sang at this lovely, octagenarian’s party and she beamed the biggest smile I’d ever seen her sport. Now, I wasn’t the sole reason her smile was there or so wide, but I played a part and it’s something I’ll always carry with me in my heart.

I’ve had a lot of stressful situations so far this year, but I’m happy to say that I’m trying my best to be a blessing to those around me in spite of it all.

The cool thing about brightening someone else’s day is that it doesn’t take a lot of anything to accomplish. Usually it’s just a smile or a kind word.

Today I was sitting at a coffee shop, going over my internet stuff when one of the employees started singing Crazy by Patsy Cline. I smiled and told her to keep singing. She seemed genuinely happy for the encouragment.

This may seem like a pretty small item in the grand scheme of things, but how many times have you heard someone say, “Don’t quit your day job?” Every time I hear that, I lose a little bit of respect for the speaker. Whether they realize it or not, they are robbing the person of a tiny bit of their confidence and sometimes more than that. Personally, I’d rather build someone up than tear them down. :-)

I have been trying to brighten the day of those people I come in contact with by smiling and showing interest in them, but I want to take this a step farther and to do that, I think I need to start a specific journal for this item.

My goal is to do one random, anonymous act of charity to one specific person every day that I am physically able. I’m not going to put a monetary value on this as one day it might be monetary, but it could just as easily be a use of my time and energy.

So, starting tomorrow, Friday, January 19, 2007, I am going to create at least one opportunity to do an act of charity, as anonymous as possible, to someone I come in contact with.

Wish me luck all! :-)

OK, I’m waxing a bit utopian right now, but can you picture what it would be like if everyone around you did one specific thing every day, as anonymous as possible, to brighten the day of somebody around them? Even if only half or a quarter or a measly one percent of the world’s population were to do this, or do this more than they currently do, how prominent would be the results?

Some may wonder what color the sky is in my world or whether sprites and fairies flit and flutter, spreading their magical pixie dust, but even if just a few people add this to their to-do list, I think the cascading effects would touch each and every one alive.