On nights when I just want to be a mental slug, I watch a fairly innocuous TV series on Netflix called “Eli Stone.” It’s about an attorney who starts having visions and at first everybody thinks he’s a nutcase or a royal screw-up, take your pick. But by the end of the first season, what has gradually happened is that every person around him has begun to change for the better because this one ordinary guy has become a force for good in the world.
Started me thinking about how we all change the world in small ways every day with the simple choices we make about whether to be a force for good or not-so-good.
And that started me thinking about what I can do today — every day — to change the world. Here goes:
- Look every check-out clerk in the eyes and hold their gaze long enough to smile at them and let them know I’ve really seen them.
- Let one vehicle pull out of a parking lot in front of me just in case it eases somebody’s stress a tiny bit.
- Roll down my car window and give the homeless person at the freeway entrance a $10 bill, looking them in the eyes and smiling to let them know I’ve really seen them.
- Tell the people who are part of my life something I admire or respect about them.
- Ask people questions about their lives, their beliefs, their hopes, their dreams, without giving in to that urge to tell them what I think is wrong with ther lives, their beliefs, their hopes, their dreams.
- For every dollar I spend on something I don’t need (that would be a new pair of shoes to match a new outfit or a bottle of OPI nail polish or a grande whatever at Starbucks, for example), donate a dollar to help somebody else.
- Make a point of speaking more softly and more kindly.
- Tell somebody a truth they don’t want to hear because I love them more than I need them to like me.
- Read to a child.
- Drive like the highway patrol is in the next lane.
- Stop myself the next time I start to disagree with someone and make sure there’s a good reason to disagree (other than the need to be right).
- Allow my face to light up when someone I love enters the room.
- If it’s negative, just don’t say it. Especially if it’s about a person. Any person. Whether it’s true or not. If it’s negative, just don’t say it.
Some of these I try to do on a good day. Some of them I’ve done for a while at various times. Some of them are things I admire or respect in other people. Maybe I’ll start by telling them so.
