Quotes to help you Scatter Joy

A few years ago, I received a gift from a friend.  I believe it was a birthday gift and she included a few items just to make me smile.  One of those gifts happened to be a small box labeled plainly as “Bloom” with the promise that what was inside would shine a ray of sun into anyone’s day.

It was a simple little gift but once I opened the box, I discovered 30 small cards with flaps.  You know the types of flaps you find in children’s books so the child can glimpse another item underneath?  This was a grown-up version of the same.

A very simple idea but with a nice concept behind it. 

For the fun of it, one small card could be opened every day to offer a bit of advice, a smile or just plain kind words.  Nice words to live by, really, if we all woke up one day and collectively decided how well the world would work if we’d all play nice together.

While that sort of collective reasoning might not happen, sometimes we just need a bit of prompting about how we can easily affect others.  This little box was such a reminder and I wanted to share a few of my favorites...

“Be the change you want to see in the world.” 

~Gandhi~

“Kind words can be short and easy to speak, but their echoes are truly endless.” 

~Mother Teresa~

“Be kind, for everyone you meet is fighting a hard battle.” 

~Plato~

 

“How far that little candle throws his beams!  So shines a good deed in a weary world.”

  ~William Shakespeare~

“A bit of fragrance always clings to the hand that gives roses.” 

~Chinese Proverb~

 

"Some people are too tired to give you a smile.  Give them one of yours.  No one needs a smile so much as the one who has no more to give."  Author Unknown

“Have a heart that never hardens, a love that never tires, and a touch that never hurts.”

 ~Charles Dickens~

 

“You have the power to make someone’s day.” 

~Dan Zadra~

“Scatter joy.” 

~Ralph Waldo Emerson~

Simple words.  Simple phrases.  Simple ideas to lighten somone's day.

My friend may have forgotten this little gift she gave me but I still keep it at my desk and every once in awhile, I take out the little cards, pick one and see which quote I choose.  Today happened to be one of those days when I decided to pick a card, which is why I decided to write about it. 

Which quote did I end up picking from the pack?  It was “Scatter joy” by Ralph Waldo Emerson. 

I love that phrase. 

Imagine if we could all just scatter a little joy everywhere we went.  Like pixie dust from Tinkerbelle’s wand…just a little magic to give those around us a reason to believe they can fly.  It wouldn’t really take much; a smile, a kind word, a small gift, the offer to help another in a bind or just giving someone else a few precious moments of our time.  In our own way, we all have the ability to spread our own sort of magic as we scatter joy to those around us.

I hope you enjoyed the quotes and I hope by sharing them with you, I’ve done my part to scatter even a touch of joy to start your week.