Spread the love!

Are you ever out and about and notice something about someone’s outfit, or jewelry, or maybe their hair and you feel an inclination to give them a compliment? At this moment a few doubtful thoughts might come into your head; I’ll seem weird, they’ll feel uncomfortable, it feels uncomfortable for me, etc. So you end up not saying anything and you both go about your day.

Have you ever been the person on the other side of this exchange? When a stranger catches your attention and compliments your outfit? Reflect on how this felt, how this made you feel toward the other person.

The norm for most strangers passing by each other is to keep to our own business. To not engage, leave others alone, avoid eye contact. While this might be a mechanism of safety or maybe you don’t feel in the mood to have a conversation, it’s become a gateway for us to separate ourselves. To isolate, even when were surrounded by people and the opportunity to connect.

Recently I’ve been experiementing with connecting to strangers. At first this was terrifying, I was anxious, overly cautious, and deeply in my head. When I started to step outside my confort zone and compliment people here and there if I noticed something about these interactions - a few things happened.

For starters I noticed people generally appreciate when you say nice things to them. I was often met with big smiles and words of gratitude, which in turn made me smile. I haven't had any adverse experiences with this experiment. Then my confidence grew as I continued to have these positive exchanges of energy. Sometimes I even contemplated if I had made someone’s day, knowing that a compliment from a stranger had turned around some difficult times myself.

This positive reinforcement of having a good reaction and feeling better about myself began to snowball and I found myself making a point to connect with people throughout the day as often as I thought to. I felt the positive karma growing within me, knowing I was doing this with the intention to spread love. I’ve heard it a million times over on podcasts and in wellness books - giving is a wonderful path towards living a good life. I myself have felt this in action from the compliments I give to buying people housewarming gifts. It feels good to give.

In a book I have been reading, The Seven Spiritual Laws for Success by Deepak Chopra, I am learning how to create a good life. I subscribe to an idea pointed out in the book that in order to receive what you want, it is wise to begin by giving it. If you are hoping to cultivate love or attention, giving love and attention to others can result to it coming back to you. To start with sharing we are practicing acknowledgment of our abundance. How we show up in the world and what we believe to be true about ourselves matters. Our brains are built to process things through a confirmation bias (we will look for and notice what confirms what we already believe). When we show up, act, and share like we have abundance in our lives by giving - we encourage abundance to grow.

Even if this doesn’t sit with you, I hope you can reflect on any times giving and receiving have impacted your mental state and that of those around you. Share the love! There is so much to go around (if you treat it as such).

With love, gratitude, and appreciation for your time and reflection,

Paige