But at intervals a sweetness appears
3 Stories From the Supermarket
1. My friend once told me about a time when she was working at a supermarket in the valleys in Wales. She was serving an elderly lady and her shopping came to around £20. The lady realised that she could not afford everything and started to get embarrassed and upset. The woman behind her in the queue, a stranger, straight away offered to pay for her shopping and did so.
2. A few months ago I went to the supermarket to pick up some things for a coach journey. When I got to the queue a man let me infront of him because I only had a couple of things.
3. I used to work in a supermarket on the deli. When a customer asked us where something was we weren’t allowed to simply point them in the direction. On a very busy day a customer asked me where she could find food colouring, as I went to walk round another customer offered to show her as he could see that we were very busy.
I often have this huge pang of guilt as I remember this time when I was leaving a supermarket an old lady asked me which direction I was going in, I replied quite confused at the question and it was only when I was down the road I realised she needed help with her bags. I think supermarkets offer an opportunity of kindness. People often need help finding their way around, reaching something etc. They’re such little things that mean so much to us as humans.
Science of Thank You
Research has found that being more grateful can improve health and emotional well-being. The study found that people who showed gratitude:
• Felt better about their lives.
• Were more optimistic.
• Were more energetic.
• Were more enthusiastic.
• Were more determined.
• Were more interested.
• Were more joyful.
• Exercised more.
• Had fewer illnesses.
• Got more sleep.
• Were more likely to have helped someone else.
I started a diary a few months ago and reading it back I realised how much I focussed on moaning. So after a month I changed my diary to a positive one, like this study suggests. Every night I jot two or three things down that made me happy that day. These things can be as small as “I watched Waking Ned today” but still, reading them back resurfaces these small happy memories that I would have otherwise forgotten. I also found that I started writing things that used to annoy me like the small size of my city but putting the positive side of it, that it means I often bump into friends.
Give it a go.
