It has come to my attention that lives change in moments and building upon those moments is what increases our strength and lifts us to the next level of our personal growth.
I felt this idea was so powerful that I wanted to come up with ways to uplift people in every way that I could throughout the day. So, I set up an experiment for myself to see how quickly I could sincerely accomplish that task. I found ways that I knew I would only see people for a moment at a time.
There is an elevator at work...you know...the place everybody stands like a stick and forgets how to talk or even breathe! I created my own "elevator process". I only ride two floors so it's literally the time it takes for people to get in, the doors to close, and go one floor. I found that if I saw what was fabulous about someone and stated it to them, it made a huge difference in their immediate countenance. They stood a little taller, they smiled, they responded, and if I ran into them again, they remembered me.
One day a group of business men (who were dressed like they had been in a very important meeting) were already in the elevator from a floor above me. There was a bank on my floor and they had the elevator door held open and were talking for a second as their boss was getting off at the banking floor. I heard the boss say these words, "I know that it all sounded like a brilliant plan, but I just don't have that kind of worth!" Then he got off the elevator shaking his head and walked into the bank leaving his younger executives in the elevator in silence.
There I stood in my jeans and winter sweater and I looked at them and said, "Wow, that was painful to hear!" One of the executives looked at me and said, "What to you mean?" I said, "I have that kind of worth!" They looked at me stunned and as I left the elevator, I looked back at them and said, "I don't have the cash, gentlemen, but I'm definitely WORTH it."
Now, I know the boss was talking about "worth" in a financial sense. But his use of that particular word made me realize his lack of self-confidence. The executives stood there and nodded their heads. As I walked away to my car I heard one of them say to another, "Now that's exactly the attitude we need in our firm."
Two weeks later I was getting off the elevator and one of those gentlemen was loading up his car with his personal possessions. As I walked by, he stopped me and said, "Hey, you're elevator girl, huh?" I chuckled and knew exactly what he meant. I said, "I suppose I am." He said, "I'm so glad I saw you again. I really heard the message you were giving and I realized that what was lacking in my life was an environment of positive attitudes. So, I'm starting my own firm where attitude is the most important part. Two of my colleagues are coming with me. Thank you for saying what you did."
I would love to hear from you, moments that changed your life, moments when you did something profound that changed the lives of another, and ideas of other places and ways to take this attitude to the world.
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One of those moments...
I really liked the story you posted. I had something like this happen to me once. I had arrived a few minutes late for work at the Sears store I worked at. (I had witnessed an accident and had waited for the police to arrive.) When I got to work, I noticed an elderly gentleman standing in the middle of our sporting goods department looking rather lost. I stopped by him and asked him if I could help him. He said he needed to find "sporting goods". Rather than point out the obvious, I asked him if there was something in particular he was looking for. He told me he was there to pick up a tv. I walked him to our package pick-up kiosk and helped him figure out the computer system. I pointed out the young man who would be bringing out his TV and turned to walk away. The elderly man called out after me, "Miss". I stopped and turned around. For a moment, it was like someone had turned on a lightswitch. The elderly man looked like he had perfect clarity in that moment. He said to me, "Miss, good things are coming." I smiled and told him, "Sir, good things are always coming." He replied, "No, good things are coming soon." Then it was as though the light went dim again. He looked as lost as he had before. I smiled and walked away. His words stuck in my head though, so I asked a friend of mine about it. She said to pray for him because he had given me a message.
Well, I did that. I still do it, everytime I think about those words that he said to me, and everytime I look around at all of the good things that have happened in my life since then. It's amazing how something so simple, just a few words, can completely change a life.