It’s The Little Things That Matter Most

We have so many opportunities to be kind towards others. When we notice that other people are suffering, often these are wonderful opportunities to help others on their journey through life. These little acts of kindness make all the difference in the world.
(Please note, this is a talk, not a guided meditation.)

Transcript

Welcome to the Happiness Podcast.

I'm Dr.

Robert Puff.

Recently,

I got on a plane trip to go to Alaska.

My nephew was getting married and I was excited to see him start his new life.

Well,

When I got on the plane to go to Alaska,

Which is a long flight,

The flight was delayed over an hour because they were having problems with their bathroom in the very front of the plane.

I was sitting in the first row in the first seat so I could see everything going on.

Well,

Finally they just put up a sign saying you couldn't use this bathroom.

There were still three bathrooms in the back of the plane,

But you had to walk all the way back to get to them.

Well,

I noticed a woman sitting across from me in the aisle and she was talking to the stewardess,

Asking him what her options were.

It's because she had an injured foot and she had reserved that very seat so that she could be able to go to the bathroom very easily.

But now she had a dilemma because the bathrooms were all the way at the back of the plane.

So she was trying to figure out what she would do and I could tell she was very worried.

After we'd been flying a while,

I went up to two different stewardess and asked them about this lady because I knew that she probably wasn't going to say anything.

But it was a long flight and I knew she probably needed to go to the bathroom.

That's why she chose that seat so that she could easily access it.

And I knew everyone was busy on the plane doing their job,

But this lady beside me who I knew was distressed because of the way she was talking earlier probably wasn't going to say anything and was just going to suffer.

Well,

I wasn't going to have her suffer.

So the stewardess brought up a chair,

But the problem was her foot was injured.

So what I did,

And she let me,

Is I held up her foot all the way back of the plane until she could get to the bathroom while she was sitting in the chair so it wouldn't be injured and so that she could get back there without too much pain.

And I was really glad that I could help her and I didn't do it for any reason,

But I just hate to see people suffer.

So I didn't want to see her suffer and I did things to help her life be a little bit better.

And I'm definitely not sharing this story to get any praise for it.

I actually haven't told anyone about it until right now.

I could tell that the lady was very appreciative and thankful for my help because I'm quite sure most people don't notice her and she just suffers in silence at times.

I'm pretty sure the stewardess had forgotten about her injury or at least were very busy taking care of the other people on the plane.

And at the same time,

The lady didn't want to draw attention to herself.

A lot of people are that way.

They just suffer in silence.

She was a beautiful soul who didn't need to suffer,

But what she needed was people to help her in life.

And I think that's why we're here in life.

We're here to help others,

Particularly those who aren't able to help themselves very well.

That I believe is one of the most important things that we can do in life because it's the little things in life that we have opportunities to do all day long that I believe matter most.

But why do they matter most?

Think about this.

What if we met a lawyer who graduated top of his class,

Ended up opening up a private practice and we were making eight figures every year.

He had the most beautiful home with the most exquisite exotic cars,

But at the same time,

He never went to any of his kids,

Practices,

Events,

Came home very late,

Was gone often,

And on the side was cheating on his wife with many different women.

Would we look up to him or we not?

But let's say there's a classmate of his and she goes down a different journey.

She decides to defend people who have no money,

That are homeless,

That are really struggling in life,

And they have no way of paying her.

But she does it because she wants to help people.

So she lives in a modest home.

She drives a car with over a hundred thousand miles on it.

And yet even on her weekends,

She works at an animal shelter so that she can help animals that no one cares for.

Which of these two do we look up to or do we say that's a better life?

I mean,

The classic story goes back to Charles Dickens and Ebenezer Scrooge,

Christmas Carol.

It's the little things in life that we get opportunities to do all day long that matter.

I really don't believe it makes any difference the accomplishments we achieve.

I think there's a lot of people that achieve great accomplishments,

But they're not very kind people and we don't look up to them.

We look up to people who give and give and really go out of their way to make the world a better place.

Those are the ones that we really do admire,

Like the Mother Teresa's of life.

Haven't we all had experiences where someone went out of their way to be very kind towards us?

Many years ago,

When I was younger,

I was staying at a campground,

But I didn't have anything but a wind jacket and it was really cold at night.

And so I'd sat as close to a fire as I could because I didn't even have a campsite in order not to freeze to death.

Well,

Someone noticed and then the next night they came up to me and said,

We see you don't have a sleeping bag and just that very thin wind jacket.

We were wondering if we could let you use our sleeping bag tonight.

And I was so thankful because I really froze the night before,

But they noticed and they gave me a sleeping bag so that I could stay warm that night.

We all have stories like this.

Stories where we helped other people,

Our people helped us.

And I think if we really reflect on life,

They're the most memorable and I believe they're the most important.

Not the degrees we get,

Not the money that we make,

Not the success that we get in life,

But the little things,

The little opportunities we get throughout the day to help others,

To put smiles on other people's hearts so that their day is a little bit better.

So if the little things matter in life the most,

Then we have to ask ourselves,

How do we do them?

How do we go about making our planet,

Our world a better place to live in,

Where we can do a little bit for other people's throughout the day and help them and be open to opportunities when they're given to us.

Because I think we're given opportunities to make people's lives better all day long if we're really attentive.

So that's the first thing we have to do.

We have to be attentive.

We have to notice that someone else is struggling because if we don't notice,

We may not be able to do anything to help them.

But if we notice,

Then we can say,

Okay,

I see there's suffering going on here.

Is there anything that I can do?

And if we're able to do these things,

Guess what's going to happen?

Two things.

The first thing is,

We are going to help people.

We're going to make people's lives better.

Sometimes we'll reach out to people and they won't want our help and we need to honor that.

We need to walk away and say,

Okay.

I was recently in Chicago and there was a woman that was clearly very distressed talking on her phone and she just did not look like she was in a very good place.

So I just quietly went up to her and said,

Is there anything I could do to help?

And she said,

No.

She didn't say it meanly.

She just said no.

And I walked away.

I honored her request.

But throughout the day,

There are so many opportunities.

We can smile.

We can donate our time.

There are just so many people in life that are struggling.

I think that is just part of being human.

But our opportunity is to help them to make their lives better.

It might be a homeless shelter that you help at.

It might be visiting a nursing home and bringing your pet dog with you to help the people struggling there.

It could be helping out at an animal shelter where the animals there get no visitors and you can just go there and play with the dogs and cats and give them some attention.

There are so many different ways that we can help.

So that's the first thing.

We have to be attentive.

We have to notice that there is suffering and then ask ourselves,

What can I do to help?

Perhaps we can research things that we can get involved with.

But often it's just throughout the day,

Little things that we can do.

Holding a door open for someone,

Thanking someone,

Asking someone and really meaning it,

How are things going when we notice that perhaps their day isn't going well.

So the first thing is to notice.

The second thing is to do something,

To make steps.

And if we can't notice something,

That's our research.

We can say,

Okay,

What activity,

What organization could I be part of to help make the world a better place?

And the third thing is going to be hard,

But I actually think it's most important.

And that's not to give any attention to yourself for what you're doing.

Don't seek attention.

Don't seek praise.

Just do it for the sake of doing it.

Because we don't really look up to people that really brag about all their accomplishments,

Even if their accomplishments are helping others.

I think it's better.

And we look up to people that we never know that they did these things.

And we later find out that they did.

It's not that they have to hide it.

It's just they're not trying to seek attention for it.

And I think in life,

When we don't seek attention for helping others,

But we just do it,

Because it's good to do that,

Then the real reward we get is just liking who we are.

Because in our own eyes,

We're going to say,

You know,

I'm doing good in life.

I am making the world a better place.

And that's enough reward for me.

Because ultimately,

However we judge others,

We judge ourselves the same way.

So we don't really like people that are very selfish and brag a lot.

We like people that help others.

And they just do it to be helpful.

They're not doing it for any reward.

They're just doing it because it's a good thing to do.

And if we're doing that,

Guess what?

We're gonna like ourselves.

We're gonna look in that mirror and say,

I like you.

I love you.

Keep making the world a better place.

Because there's a lot of people struggling in our world.

We have the ability to help them.

Even if we have very little.

There are so many times throughout the day that we can help others or find ways to help others.

We can do so much.

Sometimes we have to look for it.

But often it's just right before us.

We just have to notice.

And then when we notice,

We have to give.

And then after we give,

Let's just be quiet.

And let the giving be enough for us.

Because when we do that,

I have found what will happen is people that are kind,

People that are loving,

People that are really here helping other people are the happiest people we will ever meet.

And if we want to be happy,

We're gonna follow this three step process.

Noticing,

Finding ways of helping and helping,

And then making that enough.

We can have beautiful lives.

And when we realize it's the little things that matter most,

We will notice too,

That our lives are becoming beautiful.

Thank you for joining me on the happiness podcast.

Until next time,

Accept what is,

Love what is.

Reviews

Wonderful way to start my day🙏🏼❤️ thanks Dr. Puff

Beautiful to listen 💗

Thank you 🙏

So incredibly insightful. It is the little things that count.
Thank you 🙏

My dad lived by this philosophy and I picked up a lot of his behaviour of helping people or animals, which I’m grateful for, and I can see it was one of the keys to how he was able to build a beautiful and happy life despite hardships.