How to Receive a Blessing Multiple Time a Day

An important mission of The “Y” Team is “pursuing opportunities to do love.” For us, love means “doing concrete actions,” not “having abstract emotions, feelings or goosebumps.” Acts of love make lives more Shalom, which is commonly translated “peace.” But, Shalom means much more -- “the completeness and richness of living in an integrated social milieu (totality, health, fulfilled, wholesomeness, harmony, success and happiness.)” 

A lot of things go into making life Shalom, from acts of acceptance and belonging to acts that provide the basic requirements for survival (air, water, food, shelter, medical care, etc.). The key to pursuing opportunities to do acts of love is being aware of the people you encounter in the normal course of life. The opposite of love is not only hate – it is indifference. How many people encounter people in the normal course of life every day that seem to not know they exist?

An excellent way to develop your relationship building skills – and do love too – is to practice something a good friend of mine, Reed Hamilton, “may his memory be a blessing,” pioneered, taught and became an expert in doing -- “Just say `Hi’!” I watched Reed do this literally hundreds of times over the thirty years I we were friends. Below is a quote from one of Reed’s articles published in our newsletter.

To make the choice to create mutually rewarding relationships we have to know the choice exists and how to act on it. This is an art, but the first step for creating a new rewarding relationship is simple – “Just Say Hi!” Think back the first time I taught you to do that simple act. You could have never understood the power of “Just Saying Hi!” You couldn’t have dreamed of what you saw and how strong of an impact it could have on some people.

● Perhaps the person was feeling very isolated until you “Just said `Hi’” and then he or she suddenly felt connected.

● Perhaps it was a person you walked by all of the time and knew he or she rarely smiled, until you “Just said, `Hi’” and then every time that person saw you coming he or she not only smiled, but looked forward to seeing you and to anticipate your friendly “Hi!”

You created a growing circle of rewarding relationships because you “Just Said Hi” and let people know you were interested in them . . . We did not know what we were missing by “Not Just saying, Hi! We didn’t know how easy it was to be blessed – and bless others -- with the rewards that come from rewarding relationships.

People are longing for rewarding relationships, but don’t know how to create them. So consciously choose to practice your newly discovered art and create rewarding relationships that make lives better when your paths cross. Deliver a message that may literally startle some people – you are worthy of having rewarding relationships. The fact that you took the initiative to “Just Say Hi” to that person stood out because most people ignored them. You showed them there is another choice in life for interacting with people. Your simple “Hi” packed a lot of punch – and rewarded you with blessings you never expected!

Loneliness and isolationism are epidemic in America today. They contribute to everything from illnesses and depression to suicides and murders. You may never know how much of a punch your simple “Hi” packed in their lives, but you may be sure of one thing -- you will be blessed by doing it!

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