Patience! Slow down, you’ll live longer. You’ve heard it before, but have you thought of how to slow down and have more patience. A recent visit to a favorite shopping Mecca prompts my thoughts today. “Random acts of kindness” doesn’t take planning, and it shouldn’t. Smile at a store clerk. Help her find the UPC or put it where she can scan it quicker…it helps her. And it helps you…get out of the store quicker. Maybe he’s in training and you wait for him to correct his mistakes or to remember how to enter a particular item. Do you let people ahead of you with fewer items to purchase? Does any of that qualify as a Random Act of kindness? It shouldn’t have a name. It should be common sense. But for many people common sense is simply taking care of themselves…first. It can make a day easier, quicker…but a little less satisfying? Going through the day with a smile on your face, thinking good thoughts and knowingly doing good deeds isn’t stressful. It’s surprisingly easy…and healthy. It makes for a good day, likely for a lot of people and especially you. And in these unusual times more important than ever. Everyone has their own stressors. You’ve seen those Facebook posts, you don’t know what the person next to you might be going through, dealing with or hoping things will get better. You could be the one to make it better with a smile, a quick hello or just your patience. Put the grocery cart in a corral or in smaller stores run it back inside! Yes, it takes time, but don’t you feel better if you’ve helped the store or the poor kid that has to run around in cold or hot weather to corral all those carts or spare other drivers from hitting them. In a hurry to get out of a parking lot? Everyone is. But you don’t have to be first. You’ve got time so you can wait for an older couple trying to maneuver the maze, or a hassled young mother with a carload of screaming kids. If you take time, not hurry, you help yourself (less stress) and everyone around you and who knows maybe you’ll spare someone a fenderbender. Perhaps the operative word is patience. Plan on a little more patience. You’ll get your errands done just as quick and perhaps make it home with a smile on your face and energy left to tackle the next project on your “to do” list. Slow down. Life is a one-time gig.