I have heard this before and so have you.
- Zig Ziglar said: Be helpful. When you see a person without a smile, give them yours.
- Be careful placing judgment upon others, for you know not what battles they are fighting.
I was reminded of these two simple statements last night. A person in our class came in late, which was not normal for them. They contributed some, but not as much as they usually do. But they showed up and stuck it out for the entire class.
We ended the class with an exercise where we have the participants write their name at the top of a 3 X 5 index card. Then they take that card and hand it to someone else. Now the class participant has to take the 3 x 5 index card with one of the other participants name on it and write something about them that they have noticed about them that is unique, positive, and that the individual might not see in themselves. Now there are about 20 people in the class. So over the last 6 weeks every Monday for roughly 3.5 hours, we all have been together. So we have developed a lot of relationships and we all know each other fairly well.
This little exercise is probably one of my favorite that we do in this course. Who doesn’t like to be told something positive about themselves. Sometimes the participants get overwhelmed with emotion during this exercise.
So going back to the class participant. This person had a bad day at work. It was very clear. I am not sure what exactly happened, but they were different. So this one little exercise we did, and the 3 x 5 index card with the positive note about them on it, changed their day. How do I know this? They told us. They told us how much they appreciated it after the day they had.
So what can you do today? This is a pretty simple act that any of us can do. So who in your life needs this kind of appreciation, acknowledgement, encouragement? Who can you send a note to? Who is going through something right now, that needs some pick me up? I would encourage you to be like Zig Ziglar states, lift someone up.
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