The Gift of Sharing in Everyday Life
I just ran into Edith walking her dog this afternoon. Edith is 91 years old, living alone and is always ready for a conversation. She thanked me for the vegetables from our garden that I had given her earlier. Then she told me how important sharing was to her. Whenever, for example, she had bouquets of flowers for her birthday, she’d share some of it. When a friend admired them she’d gather some up and give them to her. Frequently the friend would protest, and Edith would say: “I have received them, admired them, and I’ll remember them. That is enough; now it’s your turn.”
Then I told her how some of the vegetables I’d given her came to me. In our community garden where we have two plots, someone was admiring our bountiful kale. I asked her whether she wanted some. When she said Yes, I picked a bunch for her. Later she returned with 9 small eggplants in “exchange.” It was delightful to participate in this sharing. And when I gave Edith some of our vegetables, I included some of these eggplants as well.
When you think about all the things you’re exposed to in everyday life, what does the world, what do others share with you? Too often it’s gossip, the dramas, the tragedies. That’s what TV news consists of, right? And it’s usually the same in everyday conversations.
When we become aware of what we’re exposed to during the day, we may understand why often we end up feeling burdened or “depressed” by what we’ve seen and heard. If we want to feel better, wouldn’t it help to somehow turn our “back” to such exposures? Limit how much news on TV, newspapers or magazines you have in your life. You might even consider minimizing your contacts with people who bring you “down.”
Consider consciously choosing to turn to more positive uplifting stories and points of view. Spend more time with the optimistic people among your friends and family. Choose films and books that are about good choices and good lives. Parenthetically I realize that this latter choice may not be easy because the stories that sell are about people making bad choices.
By now, it’s probably obvious that I choose to share mostly good news. In fact, I find it fun and joyful to bring those positive aspects of my life into conversation. And when I’m curious about others, I can ask questions like: what’s great about your life these days? What’s the funniest thing that happened to you lately? What was the last occasion that made you laugh really hard?
Sharing good news is also the model I choose for my new business. When I find something good, I research to make sure that it is truly good, and then I market it. Turning my natural tendency into a business occurred just recently when I decided to learn about affiliate marketing. If you’re curious, you can check out my reviews of the swivel sweeper g2.
Marketing just to make money doesn’t appeal to my sense of values. Marketing to share something helpful and fun is more sustaining. My most recent project can be found at www.swivelsweeperg2reviews.com.
I hope you remember to share the wealth of good news in your life. I believe that when you continue to do this there will be more good news coming into your life. In short, when you see blessings, they just multiply.
Anne K. Uemura, Ph.D.
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