Nice people!

It’s funny how large of a role people play in happiness. Things and places really don't have much to do with how much joy we have. Without love and kindness from others, we would be pretty miserable people! I love how when someone does something nice for you, it’s like an instant bond that creates a desire to do something nice back, or for someone else. This world would be an amazing place if we could just start a giant chain reaction of niceness. Every time my neighbor brings over a cute miniature cup of tea or a sample of some foreign looking curry, it gives me a happiness boost. Whenever our neighbor Ramana comes to the screen door and says “Sidney, Brooke, come” with no further explanation (except that we know he wants to chat with us in very broken English and serve us some tea or food) it makes me laugh. These are the moments that I have to cherish and always remember. I know that I will because when I think back to an experience where I traveled far from home, I can only think of the good parts! Even the parts I know were frustrating at the time, somehow turn into good memories that I can laugh about. This is good.

People really do make the situation. I need to remember that when people frustrate me, I’m the one who has to change my attitude. I can pray all I want for God to change someone else, but it’s really me to needs to do the changing. By adjusting my own attitude, I can change the way another person makes me feel. When I become a person who is generous and thinks of others first, it will make life happier.

This verse is my motivation – “Don’t be selfish; don’t try to impress others. Be humble, thinking of others as better than yourselves. Don’t look out for only our own interests, but take an interest in others too. You must have the same attitude that Christ Jesus had.” Philippians 2:3-5

Today I will be thankful for people. When I am talking to them, listening to them, watching them, or even complaining to myself about them, they play the largest role in the amount of joy I have. So I’m thankful for them. It's impossible to not get a little joy from watching my cute friend Din Chin sharing her orange umbrella. Or from a wild swarm of boys shoving sparklers in one of my hands while pulling me by the other to watch them light a new fire cracker... (Diwali festival is a whole new story). The teachers, the kids, my roommates, and even the villagers who stare, unashamed and unblinking, at my white skin and hair.  They are creating this experience for me that I will always remember. Most of all, I’m thankful for the new friends I’ve made who have shown me pure kindness and generosity and for those who have encouraged me from far away, helping my heart to feel a little more full than it has been.