Are You Even Nice . . .

Every school day I drive past a hand-made sign on the side of the road (a busy road) that simply says “Are you even nice.”  There’s no question mark.  Nothing else.  No sign later on down the road … just — “Are you even nice.”

This is a great question and one I get to ask myself every day as I drive by it.  I wish some other people I know (and those I don’t know) would ask themselves the same question.  Well, let me say this … it’s important to ask the question but it’s even more critical to act on it.  I had some very “nice” experiences yesterday – which followed my how-to-be nice theory:

How to be Nice:

1. Say hello with a smile.  Whether you know the person or not, acknowledging someone makes everyone feel good.  Yesterday, the 15 year-old  girl at the grocery store who was carrying out my groceries, looked me in the eyes, smiled and asked about my day.  We had the most lovely conversation walking to the car.  It made me smile!

2. Say affirming things and be positive.  Don’t you feel great when someone says something positive or you have one of those affirming conversations?   No matter how much money one has or successes, no matter how busy or tired, we can all do this.  Last night, I was at an event with friends and someone came up to me, after a minute we both realized how much we missed talking to one another, we hugged and promised to get together soon.  I don’t know which was more affirming, the conversation or the hug.  In either case, it was really very nice.

3. Think before speaking or acting.  Too many times we hurt people by talking or acting before thinking.  We have control over what comes out of our mouths.  We just don’t like to admit it.  My kids are I have been talking about this one quite often.  It’s super obvious.

4. Do the little things. There is nothing nicer.  Someone gave me a card yesterday.  It was sweet and made me feel good.

5. Be respectful, not short-tempered, not angry, not dismissive – even when someone is being that way with you.  There is no way one can be nice when they are anything less than respectful.  Someone was angry and dismissive of me yesterday.  After a bit I decided to respectfully let go and allowed myself to walk away.  It felt so much better than engaging.  It wasn’t my anger anyway.

I hope that sign stays up for a long time.  It makes me think and my guess is it affects other people the exact same way.

Have a great day!