Wednesday, July 23, 2014

A Boost


Our prime purpose in this life is to help others. And if you can't help them, at least don't hurt them
 Dalai Lama

Sometimes we all need some help.

I was thinking about this today as I was down in my laundry room, trying to reach into the laundry chute to pull out an errant sock.  In the end, I had to use a stool.

I always have to use a stool.

At 5'2", so much is out of reach for me.

In my kitchen, my best friend is not my kitchen-aid mixer or my cookbooks; it is my small red stool that enables me to reach everything.



When you are small, you learn quickly to get over the ego and recognize you are going to need help sometimes: to reach the high shelf at the grocery store, climb up onto things, see the view.

And yet, so often in the rest of our lives we are afraid to ask for help.

Some of this is because we are private, pioneering sorts of personalities who do not (or have convinced ourselves we do not) need help; we'll go it alone thank you very much.

Some of this is because we are embarrassed because we don't know an answer, think we are the only ones with the problem, think people will think we are stupid or odd or weak if we ask for help.
As I get older, I realize more and more that I need all kinds of boosts from all kinds of people.  And while at times I still feel shy to ask for those boots, for that help, I almost always feel better for having done so.

Even if my request does not end in the result I'd hoped for, I am usually not unhappy that I made the ask.

And just as I am appreciating all of the boosts I have been given, I am trying hard to give them to others.  When I see things that need commending, I say something right away now.  When I hear or read something that I think someone would benefit from knowing about, I share it.

Some of the greatest gifts I have received recently are some random act of kindness or some little boost that has kept me going.

I never know from whence these boosts will come.  Sometimes it is a friend sharing something.  Other times it's an article I've read, I story I've heard.  Each time I think: "Wow - how lucky am I to have heard that/seen that?"

A small thing we do for someone else can mean more to them than we will ever know.

In turn, our request to them may seem big to us, but small to the person we've asked.

All this philosophy from a pink sock in the laundry chute....

Have a great day and stay safe out there!

xoxo wendy


12 comments:

  1. I hate having to drag the step ladder out but is necessary on occasion. Not sure why it can be seen as an act of weakness to ask for help, should be seen as one smart cookie.

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    1. I agree - and yet so many people hobble along in their pain!

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  2. Little boosts is what its all about! Who can dole out checks of a million dollars or stop a war? so it's the little things that make someone's day. But asking for help is hard and accepting help even is sometimes not as easy as it sounds too.

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    1. Naomi - you are right! And when we add up the little things, they become very big things!

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  3. Very well said Wendy and I adore your little red stool! This post was a nice boost for me this morning. :)

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  4. Beautiful way of telling the tale and the stool is so cute. I did not realise you were petite.
    Being a kiwi i don't ask for help much, just soldier on, though other Mums have been great at 'reaching out" when I need help with the kids, though mostly in the past we've gotten babysitters - don't want to put anyone out, as my Gran used to say.
    I like what Naomi has to say, doing small things count because thinking you can tackle the big ones is overwhelming

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    1. It's funny - the scots say the same thing, and so the french, and so on. I think we are trying very hard to be self-reliant in this world. You are right - we never want to put anyone out!

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  5. I reached my height at age 12 ( only 5'8 1/2" but taller than any boy at the time) and thought of it as a handicap socially. But I still have a green stool to match yours!

    Boosts come in many forms and those small seeds you plant can grow and grow in someone's life.

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  6. Hm, I have tow library stools, the little things that roll, to help me reach high shelves. One of the stools is red!

    Saw a fooffy pink full skirt a at Anthro and thought of you, there's a nice pic of it on thatdamngreendress! I checked it over, it's nicely made and could be shortened without agony.

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    1. Fred - the last time we were in New York City, we visited the putnam rolling ladder co. It has always been Barry's dream to have a rolling ladder from them!

      I think I will need to lost about 20 pounds to wear a full tutu now - I think I would look like the ballerina pig in that children's book whose name I am forgetting!

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Kindness is a virtue...