Night Eight · Carry It Forward
Can You Let a Kind Word Stay?
Later that night, Golu Girl was helping put things away.
Veda watched her fold the flower cloth carefully.
Golu Girl shrugged.
Ammomma looked over.
Golu Girl stopped.
Then she looked at Veda.
Veda smiled.
Sometimes receiving is very small.
Someone helps us.
Someone notices us.
Someone says something kind.
And before the words have even reached us, we push them away: “It was nothing.” “It isn’t very good.” “Anyone could do it.”
Receiving can begin with something simpler.
Let the kindness arrive.
Sometimes receiving begins with simply saying, “Thank you.”
Earlier, Mahagauri’s open gestures made us ask: What happens on our side of what is offered? Here, nothing dramatic is being given. Just a kind word. Golu Girl does not have to agree that everything she does is perfect. She only has to notice that kindness was offered—and let herself receive it.
What do you usually do when someone says something kind about you?