More Niceness, Please!

You might have noticed my new I'm Very Nice button on the right-hand side of this blog. I stumbled upon one of these buttons when I was reading August & After, whose author Cori had one in her sidebar. As 'nice' is probably one of my favourite words, I clicked on it and discovered that it will take you through to Operation Nice, a project set up by Melissa Morris.  

Melissa feels that "if everyone was a little bit nicer to the folks they encountered each day, perhaps the world would be a more pleasant place. Operation NICE was initiated to remind you that a little NICE goes a long way." I second that completely.

Especially with living in a gigantic city like London, it seems that people here often adopt a dog-eat-dog mentality, become very selfish, and are prone to follow their own agenda. It upsets me when people don't offer their seat to a pregnant lady or a pensioner. I feel like screaming when somebody drops their litter in the street. I have held many a door open without people saying thank you. What ever happened to manners and being polite?

Sadly, I have noticed signs of the same attitude in myself, when I fight for space on the tube, get impatient with people blocking an escalator or feel like cursing the person that does not make room for me on the sidewalk. I'm sure it's some kind of self-preservation mechanism, but I don't like myself acting that way at all.

I do try to consciously take a step back, breathe, and remember that a smile will make everything better. So, even though with me it's sometimes more of a trying-hard-to-be-nice than actual bottom-of-the-heart kindness and politeness, I endeavor to work on myself in order to become less selfish and kinder to others.

I find Melissa's blog very inspiring. She publishes stories of people who have done something nice for somebody, has established a nice-person-of-the-week-award, features a list of suggestions for niceness and offers a whole bunch of other nice stuff, too. So shimmy on over there nicely, join the cause and grab a button for yourself.

Have a nice day!

x

© Annika - All The Live Long Day (unless otherwise stated)