WHEN SOMEONE REACHES OUT

Don't pretend as if you don' t hear them, or as if they are just chronic complainers. Do you ever REALLY, REALLY listen when someone is talking to you? Or are you just going, "Oh God, there goes Sam again", he does that crap all the time?

Maybe Sam does that for a reason. Maybe Sam had or has been going through a really rough time and needs a listening ear.

You can listen, and allow that person to vent. How nice would that be? It's not as if you have to get involved with this person, but it is so few and far between that people actually LISTEN, and maybe have a piece of good advice for you, or even just a smile or one kind word of encouragement. That's all. No one is telling you to marry the person, become their therapist, or get attached in some way. JUST BE. Be some one's sounding board! Not because you HAVE to, but because you are human, and I am pretty damn sure that there were, or are, several moments in your life that you were grateful to have that special someone be YOUR sounding board.

Maybe I am ultra sensitive to this, and always have been, because I do know that, I have had the most incredible opportunities to share my heart, my loves, my aches, my pains, and sorrows in life's deepest darkest moments, that if those sounding boards weren't there? I don't know, really,what I would have done.

Apply this to any and everyone. Don't shrug someone off.

The next time you are around someone that seems to bug you because they talk too much, or rattles off their personal life, do me a favor. Give them a moment of your time without an opinion about them. No one is less than or better than you.

Let me say that again!!

NO ONE IS LESS THAN, OR BETTER THAN...YOU!

You may have that opinion, and you are welcome to that like everyone else, but in my opinion, we are all in this boat together, no matter what you look like, what degree you have, or don't have, how much money you have, or don't have, education, no education............ don't flatter yourself into thinking that you are above the person who you think is an "idiot", because more than likely, YOU ARE THE IDIOT, for thinking that you are in some category by yourself, or with others that you think are above the "idiots". Wrong, my friend. Look into that one for yourself. Even if you check it out as just an opinion, at least you looked at it.

I feel very confident that we all are on the same boat, trying to help each other swim, when we get thrown off. There are reasons for tubes and floats. Right JS? They come in handy if you work TOGETHER to get through the storms.

And go slow, cuz the person tugging the tube along needs to get a breath in every once in awhile!

Stay connected even when you are busy. And I am even talking about being at the grocery store, and you are wanting to get home because you have been working all day, and you are rushing through the isles, and Peter over yonder drops a coupala things and you just walk on by. Just stop already and help the poor guy OK? I know you are wanting to get home, but probably Peter had a jerky day too. Trust me, he'll see your face when he rests his head on his pillow that night, saying thank you for the little angel that gave him a second while he was in the midst of his crap.

You never know.

You work with people all day long, 8 hours a day. Who is it that you avoid? Don't' want to talk to? Think that they are less than you? Don't want to give them the time of day because they are............so and so..................

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO! Spend a day with that person, and even if you wind up with the same opinion, you can at least give that person a chance to know that you are a real human being, who noticed them, gave them some real people time, and actually LISTENED TO THEM.

I happen to work with some phenomenal people who are considered the biggest underdogs. Maybe I will just always stick up for the underdog, but truthfully, I just give kudos where kudos belong, and it isn't always where you might think the kudos should go.

Check your surroundings out.

There are a ton of awesome individuals out there that deserve time, love and a different perspective, other than what society has ingrained in our heads.

Step out of the box, and love just a little bit more.

It will not only do that person good, but more, for you, who will grow out of a mold that is probably so darn outdated, that it will be nice to put a new piece of art in your studio, maybe a new sculpture. You can name it, "The Soul".

Good things happen to good people.

You are one of them. I am so sure of it!