The 3 things I’ve learned from my “wish you well” experiment

(Time to read: ~2 minutes)

Last month I shared about how, as part of wanting to enjoy my life and relationships more, I’ve been experimenting with saying silently to myself “I wish you well” whenever I see another person (and sometimes other beings like dogs, cats, birds, plants…)

Here are the top 3 things I’ve noticed:

1. I feel warmer, more positive and more connected to the person, and to life in general.
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   I love that! 🙂
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2. Wow! This is a lot of work!
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   By the time I travel from home, down to the boardwalk for my morning walk, and back to my office, it feels like I’ve seen literally hundreds of people.
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   Taking just a few seconds to summon up a genuine desire for the well-being of each of them takes a surprising amount of energy.
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3. It is incredibly easy to forget to do this and to fall back into my old, familiar habit of judging.
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   If I take my attention off the habit for a matter of seconds, the old habit slips back in again. And I need to remind myself to start over again.

My Conclusions

Despite the challenges, I want to keep at it and see if this is like a muscle that I can build, so it gets easier and easier over time.

Both because it is very much in integrity with my values, and because – in between the tiredness – it feels so good!

What do you think?

If you’ve tried this practice, I’d love to hear about your experience.

And if you have a different practice that you’ve found helpful in creating positive connection with others, and you’d be willing to share, I’d really love to hear that too!

Here’s to enjoying life and connection!

Warmly,
🙂
Glenda