As an update on my idea from last week on the Even Happier Quest, I have to say I was pretty successful and my idea actually worked. Monday was the rough day and there was some nagging in my head about homework. It stayed confined to my head though. I called it progress and focused on stopping the internal nagging too.
Every evening I sat down with The Kid and went over each class. We talked about what she was learning that day and whether she had homework. If she did, we worked together on it. She did one class while I checked another and answered questions. We also made a short To Do List for the next day if we had things to ask the teachers.
It seriously worked. The Kid felt less like she was saddled with doing work while I had fun working out, making dinner and doing other fun Mom duties while she struggled with homework. Yes, not quite reality but I’m betting that’s how she saw it. By Thursday, she was actually asking me for help with homework in the car on the way home. Less nagging and more partnership! Yes!
This week’s task should be an easy one for the Remember Love theme. Again it’s not focused on a romantic partner but on those around me – Give Compliments. I guess you could say it’s more kindness than love, but I’m counting it anyway. It definitely has full potential to make me happy as well as others, so it qualifies. I’m making it my goal to give at least one, heartfelt compliment to a stranger each day. The key is heartfelt.
Maybe it’s a cashier at the grocery store that has a great haircut or a nice smile. Maybe a waitress that gave perfect service. Maybe it was a phone rep that went above and beyond the call of duty. Little things like that. I’m not just going to let that slide. I’m going to tell them and mean it. Direct eye contact, a smile, and a thanks or compliment. Maybe it will even make their day and they’ll pass it on to someone else.
Lots of times I think we forget that there’s a real person standing there. We rarely talk to cashiers or other service people anymore. We may answer questions like paper or plastic, but no real talking about things. No asking about how their day is going. I’m going to try to work on that in my life.
Do you talk to people while you’re out and about? When is the last time you gave someone who helped you a compliment? Want to try this with me? 🙂
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