I am sitting in a coffee shop right now, in the midst of the Christmas season, and I am left wondering to myself…what the heck happened to people? The baristas have their best “Witch Faces” on; I tried smiling at a few people and NONE of them smiled back; I’ve had a few people stare at me funny (which, I suppose I should be used to) and I’m thinking it’s because I have a Santa hat on-or that I tried smiling at them. Who knows in SoCal?

Maybe it’s because I have watched about 20 too many Hallmark Christmas movies this year, but if there is a time of year when we’re supposed to be friendlier and nicer to each other, isn’t it supposed to be this one? 

Where are YOU on the list?

How many of you have “Elf on the Shelf”? How many of you have used the magic of the elves to maintain order in your home? Your son only wants to eat Cheez-Its for dinner?? You point to the elf and BOOM-suddenly brussels sprouts sound delicious! Your daughter doesn’t want to clean her room-point to the elf and it’s like Mary Poppins showed up! 

Let me ask you this-how many of you know an adult who wouldn’t pass the Elf test? 

Are YOU on Santa’s naughty list? 

We tell our kids not to “pout, shout or cry” and then how many of us do these very things doing the course of our days? (I include myself in this list, BTW!)

The Starbucks near my home is open on Christmas Day and the part of me that hates everything being commercialized during the Holidays doesn’t like it. Yet, the part of me that says that it provides people, who might not have someone to be with during Christmas Day, with an instant community of people to connect with, does at least understand the appeal. 

Except…why do I picture everyone at their tables-alone-all surfing the Net on phones, tablets or computers; everyone with headphones on (especially those Bose noise-canceling ones that eliminate any trace of life around you) doing their own thing, and no one actually connecting. 

What Can You Do?

Connect with people! Smile! Ask people questions and listen to the answers. Take the extra two minutes at the coffee machine at work to let someone know you appreciate them-the emails will still be there when you get back to your desk. 

Take the “I’m a jerk!” face off when helping someone who asks you a question-even if it’s stupid! Before you fire off a tirade telling your “friends” on Facebook that you’re going to UNFRIEND them because they disagree with your point of view, pause and think if that’s what you really want to do! 

There was a great story recently of a bunch of people who “paid it forward” at a McDonalds and paid for the meal of the people behind them-and I love the story and think we need to keep doing those kinds of things!

But, imagine if you also “paid it forward” with the people in your lives everyday. What about if you truly connected and helped people feel connected to you? 

What could happen?