Saturday, October 16, 2010

Little Gestures

 I dedicate this post to Miss Mac, one of my dearest friends in the world. It's the late birthday installment.

Before I get into my sermon, watch this video:



I love this dude. Did you see all those frowns magically turn upside down? Good vibes were spread through the simple gesture of a random high five. Everyday, these people ride the subway together, ignoring each other, lost in their own worries and thoughts. Lost in themselves. For this brief moment, a connection was made with a crazy guy handing out high fives and camaraderie was built amongst the crowd as they laughed over a random event. Life is made of these moments, where happiness is transmitted through little gestures. Those little gestures multiply down the line. Instead of going to work sour and grumpy, many of these people likely carried their smiles with them, handing out a little random love to other people as they continued on with their day.

Not long ago, I posted this message on Miss Mac's Facebook wall, "You are soooooo beautiful!!!" I got this comment back in response, "I'm waiting for the birthday installment of Paddle's Laws. You could always write about the impeccable timing of telling one of your best buds that she's beautiful. Cuz I kinda need that today. :)" I don't know why I posted that comment. Completely random, very little thought went into it other than, I thought of Kari, thought she was beautiful, thought she'd like to know I'd thought of her. So, I told her and a bit of happiness was spread down the line. Her response reminded me of the importance of these small gestures that so often get overlooked by the overwhelming worries of life.

Little gestures are free; they take seconds to hand out; but their returns are exponentially bigger than the effort put into distributing them around to friends, family, colleagues or anyone, even if you've never met them in your life. I challenge you to adopt the habit of a daily little gesture. Make life count!

Law #3 - Don't forget the little gestures, happiness is made of them!

I'd like to give a shout-out to my friends over at The Mindfulest. I found the high five guy on their blog. I love their podcast, check them out.