Comments on: Well Being http://www.nurturingenvironments.org/2009/01/19/well-being/ Promoting the spread of nurturing environments. Wed, 05 Oct 2011 21:40:42 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.8.4 hourly 1 By: Anonymous http://www.nurturingenvironments.org/2009/01/19/well-being/comment-page-1/#comment-12 Anonymous Sun, 01 Feb 2009 22:58:00 +0000 http://localhost/nurturingenvironments/2009/01/12/#comment-12 Nicely put Dennis! Nicely put Dennis!

]]> By: Anonymous http://www.nurturingenvironments.org/2009/01/19/well-being/comment-page-1/#comment-11 Anonymous Sun, 25 Jan 2009 22:02:00 +0000 http://localhost/nurturingenvironments/2009/01/12/#comment-11 How wonderfully well put. Science demonstrating that kindness and good manners trump adversity most of the time and give even the unmanageable times a leg up on improvement. <br/>A couple years ago, you taught me about kernels--those easy to learn, mostly one-step things to do that help us get other people to be more fun to be around. <br/><br/>Being a city bus driver, I was anxious to see if planting a lot of kernels of smiles and thank yous would grow a crop of pleasant journeys for me and my passengers. Now bus drivers just know from experience that a bus is stony ground for growing something pleasant, but I wanted you to be proud of me.<br/> So every day (and especially at the stop where the "toughest" passengers got on) I looked every passenger in the eye, smiled from my heart and said, "thank you" as they paid the fare. <br/>The result? I felt better, kinder (even prettier) no matter what the passengers did. AND they smiled back more, stopped clowning and swearing and occasionally said something pleasant to me. It sounds small but it gave me a great sense of joy and accomplishment every day I drove a bus after that. Thank you, Dennis! How wonderfully well put. Science demonstrating that kindness and good manners trump adversity most of the time and give even the unmanageable times a leg up on improvement.
A couple years ago, you taught me about kernels–those easy to learn, mostly one-step things to do that help us get other people to be more fun to be around.

Being a city bus driver, I was anxious to see if planting a lot of kernels of smiles and thank yous would grow a crop of pleasant journeys for me and my passengers. Now bus drivers just know from experience that a bus is stony ground for growing something pleasant, but I wanted you to be proud of me.
So every day (and especially at the stop where the “toughest” passengers got on) I looked every passenger in the eye, smiled from my heart and said, “thank you” as they paid the fare.
The result? I felt better, kinder (even prettier) no matter what the passengers did. AND they smiled back more, stopped clowning and swearing and occasionally said something pleasant to me. It sounds small but it gave me a great sense of joy and accomplishment every day I drove a bus after that. Thank you, Dennis!

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