Today was another day spent mostly on the road, making my way back home from Chicago. It was snowing in the midwest and there was a good possibility of flight delays, cancellations, and general travel havoc. With my new attitude, I was actually looking forward to the challenge and excited to see if the potential mess would create lots of kindness opportunities.
As the day began, I had lots of ideas in mind from helping people brush snow off their cars to assisting with luggage to seeing how I might be able to assist stranded travelers. As it turned out, the snow was fairly light and didn't cause any real delays or major inconveniences. I kept looking at people at the airport, trying to find someone who needed help, but couldn't see any appropriate opportunities. To be totally honest, it was actually a little frustrating.
Still, I was at least determined to radiate warmth and kindness wherever I was, even in small ways. Once again I made sure to look at people's name tags (TSA people,flight crew,rental car attendants,parking lot courtesy drivers, etc.) and smile and thank them using their names. I engaged the person next to me on the airplane in conversation, rather than receding into my own world. I let people get off the plane before me when they had connections to make and I didn't. I did have one chance to help someone who dropped some of her belongings as she was juggling too many things, but I was candidly hoping I could do bigger things.
I suppose it's good for me to have days like this - when kindness is as much a state of mind as it is a noteworthy act. I imagine that over the course of 365 days, I'll have my share of those types of days. One thing I can say is that having a kinder and gentler attitude definitely made both legs of this week's trip so much easier, more enjoyable, and less stressful. And it's good to be home.
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