Since this strategy has just got to work eventually, especially if enough of us do it, I've compiled a list. Here are 37 Ways to Put Love in the World, complete with a few friendly driving suggestions:
- Smile
- Use your manners
- Share what you love
- Don’t share what you hate
- Keep your thoughts positive
- Only use your horn to alert other drivers of danger
- Use a safe following distance
- Give other people a break
- Hold open a door
- Pack your own groceries at the checkout
- Build people up
- Don’t point out flaws
- Limit your media consumption
- Don’t overcommit
- Manage your stress
Sometimes stress is best managed with hot fudge ice cream cake.
- Clean up after yourself
- Don’t litter
- Wave to your neighbors
- Help when a coworker is overwhelmed
- Yield at crosswalks
- Drive slowly in parking lots
- Give yourself a break
- Leave 15 minutes early for appointments
- Calm down
- Don’t yell
- Don’t swear
- Use your talents to help someone in need
- Listen
- Don’t insult people’s intelligence
- Don’t use mental illness as a put-down
- Be patient
- Support a good cause
- Make someone laugh
via GIPHY
- Have a friend proofread contentious emails/text messages to be sure your point comes through without a nasty tone
- Accept that you’re rarely the one that supposed to enforce the rules
- Instead of thinking about what “they” should do differently, figure out what you can do to fix the problems you see around you
- Always take a number at the deli counter, even if it seems like you don’t need it.
Initially, I thought this list would go all the way to 100, but my ideas started to get pretty repetitive. Can you help me? What are some everyday ways you put love into the world?