The Encouragers

I can’t imagine life without the encouragers who cross our paths.


They say to you and to me, wherever we meet,

I see you, you are not invisible, I see your effort, and I get it.

This is not just about complimenting people (which seems to be a lost art these days), but rather about noticing. 


It is one of my favorite things to do,with people I know and people I don’t know.



With people I know, it is part of friendship and connection.

It is commiserating or laughing wildly at what we both think is crazy.

It is saying to each other “I get you” .


With my students it may not have sounded complimentary , but it was.


Usually quietly at my desk I might say, ”You need to straighten up”, or “You know this, why aren’t you showing it?”, or “You’re smarter than this”.



With people I don’t know it happens in random places:


saying to a passing shopper at the grocery store “your hair looks great”,
or to a sales clerk who looks teary-eyed “everything’s  going to be ok” ,


or to the young Geek Squad member at Best Buy who is trying to explain why my computer is not really broken, “you’re doing good-hang in there with me”.



Blog land is full of encouragers.


They write emails to bloggers who are absent and ask if everything is ok.

They read posts and comment.

They continue to comment even on one way streets.


They write comments to say “they are glad you’re back!".