Good Will Hunting
No one is useless in this world who lightens the burdens of another.
—Charles Dickens
Your good deeds might seem invisible, but they leave a trail that is imprinted on the hearts of others.
—Anonymous
November tapped at our door and without pausing to see if we were home, barged right in. The west coast time change early in the month brought a quick descending sunset and dinner served up earlier than usual.
Grappling with how to find meaning in the fast paced click of the clock and the flipping of calendar pages is a steady theme in therapy. There is no other spot on the calendar which demands our resources more than the holidays and our day to day footing may slide into the quicksand of rushed activities and overwhelm.
Nothing showcased this more recently in my own life than driving home on this first daylight savings evening. I glanced, slowed down and exploded to no one but the dust on my dashboard with, ”You’ve got to be kidding me!” It was a Christmas tree in the window of the corner house. My tree spotting tirade was interrupted just a half a block down the same street as there was ANOTHER front window displaying a tree brightly shining. Did I miss the neighborhood memo? It is only November 5th. Then it hit me. We are two weeks away from Thanksgiving and, take a big gulp breath, three weeks away from the start of December.
I was faced with a choice. Begrudge the lightning speed passage of time and the absurdity of putting up Christmas trees when our skeleton still sat on the porch waving “Happy Halloween” OR celebrate the good will of these two neighbors wanting to send a warm twinkling “Hello” to all passing by. With so much suffering in our world, perhaps they were encouraging others to find light rather than darkness.
Remember the 1997 film with Matt Damon and Robin Williams entitled Good Will Hunting? Matt Damon’s character was named Will Hunting and it turns out he was very good at mathematics and finding the good within a life changing friendship with a wise professor played by Robin Williams.
There is an annual Good Deeds Day, about mid April (next one is April 14, 2024). What if we searched for or offered good deeds every day?
November is home to Thanksgiving. Consider also “Thankshunting?” No, not for moose or a spectacular sale item, what about hunting for good will?
- Place the words “Be a Good Will Hunter” on a sticky note on your dashboard. It will remind you to keep your eyes, ears, hearts and intentions open to the images and sounds of good will. Kids laughing, strangers helping strangers, a driver waving to another to take a parking spot, someone holding the door open and greeting others.
- Consider how you might share your good will. Visit a neighbor, send a thoughtful card to an old friend, chat with a stranger at the store, smile more when you are out in the world and wish someone a wonderful day.
- If you haven’t volunteered recently, this is a time of year with lots of giving opportunities. Our world is in need of comfort and now is the time to match your desire to share good will with others. From food banks to beach clean ups, to collecting toys and donating to foreign aid.