When my kids were a little bit younger then they are now, there was a car game they got into, of their own free will, that they called ‘yellow mini’. It basically was about being the first to spot a yellow car and slap the person next to you as you shouted -yellow car! The biggest price, because you would be exempt from others slapping you, was to spot a yellow mini Cooper.
Before this game I was sure that yellow cars was a rarity, and at least that a yellow mini would be a once in a blue moon experience. But to my surprise there are quite a large amount of yellow cars around and more yellow minis than I would have ever expected. The more you look out for something, or the more you’re thinking of something specifically, the more you seem to find exactly that.
And so over that last few weeks (and you’ll all be aware of what I have been thinking about because of my last blog post) I seem to have been discovering more stories like the one I told you about: the couple in Oslo lending out their hope to young people who needs help to find their way.
It might be because of the books I read and the podcasts I like to listen too (not the true crime ones maybe), or it might be that in a world of chaos I have tuned my mind into spotting what I really need to see: good stories of people with kindness, passion and integrity making a difference. Dan Walker writes in his book Remarkable People about how one woman’s kindness in making a bowl of soup to one young girl, was the start of so many young girls lives changed in South Africa. Then there was this episode on Simon Sineks podcast A bit of Optimism that I wanted to share with you. Please take time to listen to the story of the hairstylist and how he started to give what he had! How his life changed when he realised what he could do for others. So powerful!
Kindness starts with a smile and a Hello, it starts with you and me giving what we have. I love these words by Maya Angelou:
People will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.
Without any slapping involved -let’s start a game of our own: Spot kindness -and to make sure there’s plenty of it to spot -let it start with us!
Silje Howes 