Healthy body, mind and soul

Hi this is Lynn, how can I help you? Customer service-whether it's someone on the phone or the person taking your Starbucks order, is an interaction with another person and how we do that says a lot about our true self. Think about your last exchange-if your child or parent were on the receiving end of that interaction would you be proud? We all have those times when we are less than patient but we should still be kind.

I recently contacted an organization regarding an upcoming event and the conversation went like this:

Brent: Hi this is Brent, how can I help you today?

Me: Hi Brent, how are you today?

Brent: Better than I deserve to be.

Me: wow, that's an interesting response.

We then had a ten minute conversation about customer service and how folks respond to one another. He estimated that only 2/10 people ask how he is doing and he always gives a response similar to the one he gave me. Only 1/20 comment back asking what he meant.

One out of twenty! It took nothing for me to ask about his day but not to ask in a rhetorical sense but in a real caring sense. My situation was not made better or worse by just asking how he was, nor was there additional time taken out of my day. It was just a moment of genuine conversation. Something that is lost in this age of instant gratification and constant momentum. When I hung up, I was in a better place not because my questions was answered but because I felt truly happy. Some may say I wasted my time by talking with a customer service rep for ten minutes but I nourished my soul in that time.

Being healthy is more than just working on our body, we need to work on our mind and soul as well. It's more than self-care Sunday and spa treatments. It's about saying thank you when someone holds the door for us; have a nice day to the person who checks you out at the grocery store; truly listening when you ask someone how they are doing.

Audrey Hepburn hit the nail on the head! We work on our bodies through exercise and healthy eating but how are we working on our soul? What are we feeding our souls and our minds? Just a simple question or smile can truly have an impact on someone's day. A friend recently shared that she told the person working the gate at Target to have a nice day and they smiled and said she was the nicest person they had seen all day. For the rest of the day my friend felt true joy for this simple act. There was once a commercial that showed a woman walking her child in a stroller and the child dropped their stuffed animal. A man walking by picked it up and walked back a few steps to bring it to the child. The woman was so appreciative and the camera cut to a lady sitting at the bus stop who witnessed the interaction and smiled. She then opened a door for someone who was struggling with packages and someone witnessed that act and they did something nice as well. It's a ripple effect.

I'm not saying that we will change the world - if only it were that easy! However, we can start by changing ourselves. These simple acts will nourish you inside and make you internally healthy. I challenge you to do this today and reduce your stress. By slowing down you'll actually be more productive. Try it and let me now how it goes. You'll be happier and the whole time you'll be working on Living Like....