Call your aunt
Power Bites was published in 2010 and I was recently asked to revise it and after reviewing the book, I said I cannot since I don’t think I need to change or update anything in it. What I decided to do was to add to it and will get that process started, hopefully, in the next few months. While looking over the book, I saw a chapter that I am posting here since I think you would enjoy it. It is chapter 46 titled “Call Your Aunt.” This is not that much different from other life style tips I have suggested in these blogs, but I believe this short chapter says it quite well.
Call Your Aunt
- You should take some time to smell the flowers.
- Calling your aunt every once in a while cannot be a burden on you, but look at all the joy it will bring.
- Every once in a while call an old friend, or an old friend’s widow(er). It brings joy to at least two people—them and you.
- Volunteer—to help someone personally, or in an organization that helps people. Visit or call sick neighbors, or church, mosque, or synagogue members.
- Buy a present or send a card or flowers for no reason at all. They even have preprinted cards like that. Buy crazy gifts for people you know. I once got my sister-in-law a left-handed ruler, and I always have packages of baseball cards and easy-to-learn magic tricks in my office to hand out to children that are dragged there by their parents when they can’t find a sitter when they come to meet with me.
- It costs very little to create tremendous joy when you really care.
- Everyone has a history. No one was born fully grown like Venus. Try to understand where each person came from, and what he or she has been through. Asking elderly relatives about their youth (assuming they are not the type of people who tell anyone in sight about it over and over and over) can be very enlightening for you, and you’ll be doing a good deed besides.
Reprinted from Power Bites: Short and to the Point Management, Leadership and Lifestyle Advice I Give My Clients! by Edward Mendlowitz, CPA ©2010. Available for sale at www.bn.com and www.Amazon.com
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