Part 1
I thought it was time I share with everyone some of the changes you may have witnessed with me. I know some of my friends have commented that my actions or words are somewhat different than what they have come to expect from me. I guess that is good thing? I am not sure you tell me.
There are three (3) areas I have been spending a considerable amount of time re-focusing my attention on. These are;
1. Pay it Forward
2. Friendships
3. Changing the way I think
Pay it Forward – I really was inspired by my wife Celina on this philosophy. She got me started and for it I am very grateful! Most of you are probably very familiar with the term Pay it Forward but to recap; pay it forward is a philosophy that incorporates a more general flavor of social responsibility and desire to help others in recognition of the help one has received for one's self. It is also sometimes described as being "good for a favor", meaning a willingness to help others (even strangers) on the expectation that it will all come back around in the end.
For me, I don’t practice this when I receive a good deed or for the expectation that it will come around in the end.Typically I practice this philosophy with strangers. I have been very fortunate in my life to have a great family, great friends, fantastic mentors, and wonderful career opportunities. I practice this philosophy because it makes me feel good. It makes me happy to make someone else’s day a bit brighter.
At first I thought ,what can I do to make a difference? Some of what I have been doing turns out to be really simple. I would clean off the snow on the car next to mine in the parking lot, buy the persons coffee who is behind me in line, give a stranger a lift home when they are waiting at the bus stop with bags of groceries. Recently I was at a conference where I was given some free shirts, hats, a gift card, and some other miscellaneous items. A couple of miles from my hotel I noticed a few homeless people and thought what a great opportunity to help a couple guys out. I gathered the gifts I received and gave those items to them.
Now that I have been doing this I remembered a conversation with my Aunt Maryann, many years ago when I lived in Calgary. My aunt is an amazing human being and I will dedicate an entire post to her in the future as anything less would be an injustice. Anyway it was near Christmas and every place you went it was as busy as you could imagine, people everywhere but everyone was so nice because it was Christmas time. My aunt says to me why can’t people always be this nice. Why does it take Christmas to bring this out in people? I always remembered this conversation around Christmas but forgot about it the rest of the year. So a long story short, the pay it forward philosophy while it makes me feel good, I hold out hope that someday everyone will treat others as though it is the Christmas season.
Part 2 on friendships to follow.
