Small Opportunities Come Every Day

22 of 45 Moments of Wonder

86400. That’s the number of seconds in a day. 86400 opportunities to help others. 86400 chances to be kind, to offer a smile, to say thank you. We have 86400 seconds every single day, yet most of us are looking past the small opportunities to make a difference trying to find the big opportunities.

Sure, the small things won’t get the attention of the media. No one is coming to write a story about you when you hold the door open for someone. There will be no award given for the great courage you showed when you stood up for the woman being bullied on the bus. These may seem like small moments, but the impact they have may be greater than you know.

This is not to say that the big opportunities to help don’t matter. People around the world have been rallying together to help people and wildlife affected by the Australian wildfires. Whenever disaster strikes, you can find people who want to help and who manage to make huge impacts. These are good. But we don’t have to wait.

Every day we have 86400 seconds – opportunities to make a difference, to be kind, to help a stranger, to say hello to the kid sitting alone at lunch. Every moment we are alive is a chance to be brave and to step outside of ourselves to help another.

This is my last post for a while. Tomorrow I will be heading to Toronto for a few days to undergo surgery on my leg. When I return, I will start my new blog format on Monday, January 27. Until then, my friends, you have 432000 seconds to fill. Why not fill it with courage and kindness? I look forward to sharing with you again, and creating opportunities to hear from you as well.