You do not need to look for trouble. You don’t want to be an alarmist. You do not want to alarm yourself or anyone else. You do not want your heart to beat to the tune of fear. If you do want to set your heart to fear, how easy that is. There is a long line of troubles that you can speculate on. I won’t go into them. There are many other feelings you can put into your heart besides fear thoughts. Why not make a list of all the good things that could happen? You could find a diamond on the street. You could meet an old friend and your heart be happy. Someone could take you out to lunch. You could take someone out to lunch.
Phrase all the good things that could possibly happen in a positive way. I mean it’s better not to say something like:
“I didn’t break my leg today!”
Say something in an entirely different vein. What are all the possibilities that could happen today? And, whatever you do, don’t limit your thoughts to what you call realistic thoughts. What you consider unrealistic is going to happen. It is going to happen to someone. It has already happened that someone found a winning lottery ticket on the sidewalk. Never mind the odds. Life is not to be lived by the odds. Please don’t even think that the odds are less now because this already happened to someone.
On the other hand, you might also find yourself saying that something has never happened before so how could it happen to you?
If it’s hard to look at yourself as someone who is lucky beyond odds, think of something you yourself could do for someone. And, again, avoid realism, for your estimation of realism holds you back. It doesn’t matter if you don’t have a dime to your name. We are talking about expansion.
The bare question before Us now is: What ideas do you have for what you could do for someone to give happiness?
Perhaps you would give them flowers, mow their yard, give them tickets to a movie, leave a cake. Let your heart decide. That’s the trouble with being what is called realistic. You repress your heart. You lock it down. You tell your heart to be reasonable. Hearts are not bookkeepers who have to figure out all the percentages. Hearts leap. They don’t take baby steps. Let your heart be a heart. Don’t look to remodel your heart. Your heart is God-given.
Even if you are restricted to the factual, there is still a lot you can do. You can help someone carry a package. You can give right of way to another car. If you take the bus, you can offer your seat to someone. You can smile. You can hold a door for someone. You can do these seemingly-little things for the sake of others, yet, of course, you are the big winner.
You can say something nice to someone. You can let someone else talk while you listen for a change. You can bring others to venture forth and come out of themselves as you listen.
You can pet a dog.
You can look into everyone’s eyes. How unnoticed, how invisible some people seem to be. You can make them visible.
You can stretch yourself and do something you have never done before. You can agree with someone. What a gift that is. You can say Yes all day instead of automatically saying No. What a beautiful thing it is to hear Yes. Say Yes! Be Yes. No is not more realistic than Yes. Yes opens hearts and does not close them.
There are a little things you do that can elevate another’s life, and, in so doing, your own.