It was a simple request, “Hold the door please!” a voice called out from behind me as I entered the building. I held the door and a woman rushed through, her arms filled with folders and binders, a large satchel purse swinging from one shoulder.
“Thanks,” she said as we walked towards the elevator.
“No problem,” I replied, before asking. “Can I carry anything for you?”
“That’s okay,” she said. “I’m kinda balanced like this.” And she went on to explain she was giving a course, running late, a child sick, a lost shoe…
We rode the elevator upwards and when I got off before her, she thanked me again for holding the door.
Later, I walked to the coffee shop around the corner and she was there, standing in line in front of me, chatting with a co-worker. When she placed her order, she turned, asked what I was having and insisted on buying it for me. “You were so nice to hold the door,” she repeated.
I was surprised. A bit taken aback.
All I did was hold the door. Something that happens countless times throughout the day for and with people throughout the city.
“I know,” the woman said when I told her it wasn’t necessary to buy me coffee. “But you’ve no idea how having that door held open really helped me. I was feeling really flustered and my morning was not going well. Having an open door just sort of changed everything around.”
It is so easy to hold a door open for someone and in the process, who knows what might happen to their day, or yours.
I left the coffee shop, carrying my coffee, a big smile on my face. As I walked down the street, my step was light, my feelings uplifted. Through the simple act of holding a door open, I had received the gift of connection, of knowing I’d made a difference simply by being polite.
As you travel through your day, are there opportunities for simple acts that make a difference?
In each act we take that creates open doors for others to feel seen, heard, acknowledged, we create a ripple of well-being in the world around us. And who knows, with each ripple of well-being we send out, we could create a tsunami of peace, love and joy throughout the world.
Now wouldn’t that be something!
Let’s all hold doors for strangers today and open up a world of possibility. Let’s all create openings for peace, love and joy with every act we take.
Namaste.
Dare Boldly 
Discovering this blog as well as your other has been a ‘simple act’ of kindness in my day. The concept of making a daily difference is one that I have been trying to figure out in the world of one who is unemployed and suffers from ‘volunteeritis’ (too much volunteering!) as well as other struggles. I try to think at the end of each day – what did I achieve for other people today? and what did I achieve for myself? – even if that’s just an sms or email to tell a friend I’m thinking of them or mentoring young people in my volunteer work, I hope that somehow it’s making a small difference.
I’m here and fighting when to all intents and purposes I shouldn’t have been so I guess I should try to figure out what I’m going to do with these days I’ve been given.
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Hello Laura — nice to meet you with your name 🙂 Thank you for stopping by.
as someone who was once suicidal, who wanted to die every moment of every day for a period of time when all I saw was darkness — I know each of us makes a difference simply by our presence here on earth. Mother Theresa said something to the effect taht sometimes we think what we do is but a drop in the ocean — but the ocean would be so much less without each drop.
In my journey I have embraced the truth of — I give enough. I do enough. I am. enough.
And sometimes, the one we need to give the most to is…. ourselves. With a gentle and loving and compassionate heart, we give ourselves the gift of self-acceptance and the room to simply be. enough.
Hugs. I am glad to meet you and to have your light on thisjourney.
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I keep forgetting you are “over here” too … loved the spirit of this.
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Hi Susan! I had responded but lol — my own response is missing 🙂 Where ever people meet heart to heart is always a beautiful place to be! Thanks my friend.
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I love this post Louise. Thank you, and Yes, a simple act makes a huge difference. The feedback ful of love, empathy, prayers i am getting is lifting my Spirits and helping me back on my feet after what happened. Love you ❤
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Thanks Nikky — I love that you drop in to visit and comment.
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our random act of kindness may transform someone’s day.
love and hugs.
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Thanks Trisha!
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Loving this, it only takes a moment, a smile, a friendly word, and two people are uplifted in the process. It should become a reflex, the only way to be!
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That’s reciprocity in action Josie! Hugs
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I don’t think twice about holding a door for someone, but it is the little things that we don’t think about and just do that many people are truly thankful for and to us it is just something we do………….
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So true Jo-Anne — ‘getting conscious’ on our power and capacity to make a difference is important if we are to raise the consciousness of the world!
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So true — yet, if you think about it Diana — you go through your day with the intention of ‘doing good’ so…. it is natural for you to ….’do good’! Hope the new job is challenging and fun and invigorating!
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Isn’t that always the way? I find it’s the little things that really mean a lot to people and most often, I find I wasn’t even intentionally trying….
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