Reality Check: The Seeds of Goodwill

One day a few months back, a person I consider to be something of a mentor for me was taken ill. We are not closely connected, but I respect his work and consider him a trustworthy advisor.
So I sent him a note. It was a physical note on a piece of paper, which you may recognize is a bit of a rarity these days. Sending a note is hardly a big action on my part, but I found it satisfying to do it. With that act, small as that was, I had done what I could. I believed it was an appropriate expression of goodwill.
Quite some time later, I was astounded to receive a most kind response.
Turns out, my gesture did have meaning and significance for my recipient; much more than I would have thought! Hearing that this small action on my part had real value to a person I care for made my day. More goodwill!
You may be one of the many folks who genuinely want to make positive contributions. If so, it’s possible that you’ve become discouraged; that would be easy to understand, especially if you’ve been comparing what you can do with what others can do. For example, if you follow celebrities, or even non-celebrities, you might get the impression that it’s only the grand gestures that count.
My encouragement for you, sparked by this tiny incident in my own life, is, “Rest assured, even small actions make a difference.” Spreading seeds of goodwill doesn’t have to come with a big financial burden; it doesn’t have to take a lot of time.
This is not to denigrate actions that do involve lots of money or lots of time. They count too, of course. However, if your discouragement comes from a belief of “go big or not at all” then I’d encourage you to reassess that belief.
Goodwill is sparked when people know that other people care about them. My suggestions: Reach out. Stay in touch. Express appreciation. Encourage warmth. Hold off on the criticism, nay-saying, and complaints.
It’s unlikely that every tiny gesture of goodwill will have an effect, though. Some may be wasted, completely ignored. Some may be received with a shrug of puzzlement, such as, “Why did she send me a note? She barely even knows me.” Others may be received with cynicism, as in, “I wonder what she wants from me?”
We often don’t know and will never know how many of our actions affect other people. But when we are aware of an action that we know to be a positive one, we can take it, regardless of whether we ever learn its result.
Another helpful aspect of this example was the lack of expectation. I had no anticipation that I would receive any response.
As you go about spreading gestures of good will, my encouragement for you is to look at it like dispersing dandelion seeds into the wind. Go out with your bag of “good-will seeds” and spread them around. Some will be lost, but some will take root. Your job is just to disperse the seeds. And if they’re anything like dandelions, your goodwill seeds will do alright.
What do you think of spreading goodwill?

This entry was posted in Choosing Behaviour and tagged , , . Bookmark the permalink.

Comments are closed.