Sunday Sermon - Being Nice is Free!

Two Koalas being nice to each other.

My mommy was born and raised in New York City. I have been raised the vast majority of my life in this city. Many of our friends, family and assorted pets have resided here for their adulthood if not longer and that is why I am wondering if my sermon today is a provincial topic or worldwide topic. Today's Sunday Sermon is the importance of putting a filter on mouths and to be nice to each other as I hear, "being nice is free!"

I know New York City attracts many of the best people in the world. They are the smartest, most beautiful, most talented, most savvy collection of people in the world. However with this collective comes a certain amount of arrogance which can lead to cockiness. This can lead to certain individuals to feel entitled to voice every opinion that comes into their brain without filtering the effect on their companions.

Now I have to admit I am guilty of this as when I take my walks and I pass a dog I forget that I am a cute, white, fluffy, polite lap dog and just go a little "Vietnam flash-back crazy" and just bark and try to attack my fellow canine pets even when they are trying to be friendly to me. Their owners usually look at my mother in a disapproving face and she agrees with them as I just took a fun, friendly event and made it negative. My mother does try her best to correct me on this and I do calm down and say to myself, "I will be better next time", that is until the next dog comes along and...

Well, this seems to happen in the human world just as frequently. Hey maybe I learned my behavior from humans as you would think being nice, polite and friendly cost a buck every time you "pay" a compliment to someone.

If you are close to a friend and you see something that should be brought to their attention then by all means do so as that is what a friend is for. My mommy always gets mad when someone doesn't tell her there is spinach in her teeth or her mascara has smudged and her friends let her go around like that. However our mothers taught us when growing up, "If you don't have anything nice to say, don't say anything at all" and boy are our mothers right.

Just put a little filter in your brain. Does everything that come in your brain really have to see the light of day? We have all been guilty of this (some of us on a daily basis). It goes back to the one golden rule that most world religions share and that is, "Do unto others as you would have them do unto you." - just treat others as you would want them to treat you.

Don't be stingy with the niceness or the compliments. Make it a point to hand out at least five compliments a day and then try to grow that number. It makes people really happy and it will come back to you tenfold. Think of your nice words, thoughts and actions as water and sunshine for a plant. If a plant is treated well, it will flourish. If not it will die. Many of us are killing our relationships with others with their negative careless words, thoughts and actions.

As I said before this is a big lesson for me and I know I need to work on it on a daily basis as when I do go walking with my mom and I meet another dog and we get along, everyone smiles and we continue our walk feeling very positive and happy and I do my puppy prance as my mom is encouraged to walk even longer (win/win). You humans too can contribute to the happy feelings and I promise you being nice is not going to make us think you are not smart, beautiful, savvy or talented. It is going to make us think you are a loving, compassionate, friendly human being that accepts others as they are.

Have a relaxing Sunday and enjoy the Oscars tonight! I've got five doggy bones riding on my picks. Chow for now!