The lines at the grocery store pulsed with an impatient frustration. Seething, just on the edge of something not pretty.
The young checkout girl kept her head down, methodically ringing through items from the bulging shopping cart in front of me. The heavyset, heavy-lidded shopper glaring at her, with an unseeing harshness.
The girl wasn't harried, nor rushed; nor was she focused and efficient.
She seemed almost robotic, which is perhaps what prompted the thought that made me stay in line waiting, despite the fact that the self check out lines were empty, and that is almost always what I use, anyway.
Yet, I had this powerful thought that kept me in place, that if we want to have real people checking us out, employed and useful, then we must appreciate them and their contributions. So, I stayed.
I do not want a fully automated world. With that thought in mind, I began to intentionally send out vibrations of love.
Over and over in my mind I repeated my mantra, as I do consistently, unconsciously, throughout every day, at almost all times. "Love. Love. Love. Love. Love."
With my whole being, I sent out waves of love and peace. Sending peace into this sea of impatience and frustration, of all these people stalled in their rushing, waiting to be checked out by an underprivileged workforce.
A most interesting thing happened.
Despite the growing lines and growing impatience and irritation of the woman she was still checking out, something had caught her unwavering attention.
A penny was sitting, face up, on the floor beside her.
Upon seeing it, the girl immediately crouched down and began trying to pick it up, with her 1/2 inch long fake fingernails.
Giving up on catching it between her nails, she tried pressing her thumb down on the penny and lifting it that way.
The penny would be lifted a fraction of an inch up, then fall back down. Over and over she did this. The irritation of the people around me became palpable. I was fascinated by her focus and my heart was completely open to what it all meant.
Without a 'thank you', the woman in front of me finished by paying and stomped away.
I stepped forward and leaned a bit towards the girl and said "A penny face up is good luck." She nodded with a shy smile and I added, "And you will have a lot of good luck coming your way, because of the effort with which you claimed that good luck."
The girl mumbled something about her nails being hard to pick things up with, and I agreed, telling her that I had had the same nails for many years. Letting her know, I know what it's like.
Then, I repeated the important message with power in my voice flowing through me from some other source, "You have a lot of good luck coming your way because of your efforts."
We looked each other in the eye as I said it, connecting, and she lit up.
I saw her and she saw my seeing her, with an open-hearted sincerity and kindness.
I connected to her with kindness, love and appreciation.
When we do that for others, when we see them with eyes and a heart and intent of sincere interest and kindness, particularly those that have spent hours and days in jobs or lives where many do not even bother to recognize their existence, let alone their worth, an extraordinary thing happens.
With this simple act, we can help lift someone up into their greatness.
The work I was consciously doing in that grocery store line, sending out a vibration of peace and love to all those around, disappeared. It was no longer an effort.
In the moment that our eyes met, my heart, already open, expanded limitless. I felt an exuberance and expansiveness and joy that had me feeling like the sun shining out rays.
With a warm smile and heart, I gathered my bags and carried them outside. Something prompted me to set them down on the waist-height shelf on one of the several columns at the grocery store entrance.
As I set them down and removed my suffocating face mask, sucking in the fresh air and feeling with gratitude the freedom of my life and blessings, there it was.
Beside the bags I'd hurriedly placed down. A shiny new penny, face up.
Smiling and thanking God and my angels and the Universe, I realized the importance of what had happened. And that is why I am sharing it.
It takes so little time, so little effort, to connect with someone and lift them up. It is a wink (if a smile is hidden behind a mask) at a floundering soul, to give them a bit of a laugh and confidence.
It is a thumbs up in recognition of the action of another, who's actions were going unnoticed. It is a meaningful text to a person you know to be alone and who comes into your mind.
We are always being given chances to do something important, something meaningful. These acts are not newsworthy (although, perhaps they should be!), nor even noteworthy (although, I sincerely hope you are taking note!).
These simple, random acts of kindness are that which changes our world for the better.
When we take the time to pause and connect with the world around us- the people, the plants, the animals, the precious natural resources like water and soil- when we pay attention with kindness, love and appreciation, we change. With that, the whole world changes.
It is this work and effort from which good luck springs.
Namaste, my friends