Recently, a friend texted me a generous compliment a full week after the event that prompted it.  

Another friend, recalling some personal aspirations of mine, thought to send me information about an opportunity that I might be interested in. 

A friendly proprietor remembered my name and a detail about me after only one previous visit to their business.  

A neighbor made my daughter’s day with an unexpected thank you gift since my child had rendered a small service for their family while they were sick. 

A teacher made a point to ask me outside of normal class time how to handle a sensitive situation for my child. 

A friend who has remarkable skills and gifts which I admire reminded me that my own ways of contributing to the world are no less important, albeit different. 

A therapist reminded my child of her progress and praised her for it. 

Each of these extremely simple gestures–remembering someone’s name, goodness, interests, kindness, needs, gifts, or growth–required relatively little time or energy to execute.  However, each added drops to a cup that I’ve been prone to view as suspiciously half-empty lately, and the lift they afforded me also rippled out to those around me. 

The gift of REMEMBERING can be as simple as celebrating, finding compassion, keeping someone’s memory alive, listening, or following through.  Even remembering to say, “Thank you!” is a simple gift of courtesy. 

Pick ONE thing to try today! Here are a few ideas to get your wheels turning:

• Remember and acknowledge someone’s birthday, anniversary, or an important milestone (whether a tender or celebratory occasion).
• Remind someone of a happy or special time you have shared together and why it was meaningful to you. 
• Tell another person one attribute you admire and/or love about them so they can remember their own virtues.
• Give someone who is grieving a loss the opportunity to tell you what they loved about the person/pet/opportunity/thing that they are missing so much. 
• Share your own special memory of a person (living or deceased) who has positively influenced you with someone who would be gratified to hear their loved one honored. 
• Remember to wish someone luck or offer encouragement before a big test, task, presentation, procedure, or event.  Afterward, remember to follow up to see how it went and how they are feeling. 
• Remember a time you felt nervous or uncertain about tackling something new or hard.  Look for someone else who might be feeling the same way and offer encouragement. 
• Perform an act of kindness in remembrance of someone whose memory you honor.
• Remember to follow through on an offer of assistance you have made…helping a child, sending a requested link, making an introduction, offering prayers…or any other small gesture that is easily promised and often forgotten. 

What other ideas do you have? Please share them in the comments!

“Remembrance is the seed of gratitude which is the seed of generosity.” 
Henry B. Eyring