{"id":709,"date":"2011-01-30T22:04:33","date_gmt":"2011-01-30T22:04:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.handsfreemama.com\/?p=709"},"modified":"2011-01-30T22:09:17","modified_gmt":"2011-01-30T22:09:17","slug":"the-tipping-point","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.handsfreemama.com\/2011\/01\/30\/the-tipping-point\/","title":{"rendered":"The Tipping Point"},"content":{"rendered":"

I recently had the opportunity to practice one of my Hands Free strategies, which is called Take Time to Say It<\/em>.<\/p>\n

Making an effort to express appreciation for people in my life through note writing has always been one of my \u201cBright Spots<\/a>.\u201d Although my tendency is to write notes to people I already know, those who are already in \u201cmy circle\u201d of friends and family.<\/p>\n

Being Hands Free means stepping outside the boundaries of what one normally deems as \u201ccomfortable\u201d to grasp what really matters. In this case, it meant sending something in the mail to someone I didn\u2019t know. And the results were amazing.<\/p>\n

A few days prior, my family and I had gone to a fairly new restaurant in the area. Everything was going perfectly until our entrees were brought out. I had asked that my fish tacos have no sauce on them. I was presented with some extra saucy fish tacos. Our waiter apologized profusely, although I assured him it was no big deal and would not mind waiting for my plain tacos.<\/p>\n

About ten minutes later, here comes the new order. Two nice plain tacos\u2026\u2026covered in sauce. To me, it was comical, and I was plenty full on chips and salsa. The poor waiter looked like he wanted to crawl under the table and join my youngest daughter, (who was now completely finished with her meal), playing with her Polly Pockets.<\/p>\n

I cheerfully assured him that I was no longer hungry, and he did not need to bring me anything else. The manager quickly came out and apologized to me, (meanwhile, my family had abandoned me to the nearby yogurt shop), and graciously insisted that the restaurant \u201ccomp\u201d our entire meal.<\/p>\n

When I met up with my husband, (who was now pulling up the car with two tired girls in the backseat), he asked if I remembered to tip the waiter.\u00a0 Oh no. Never having been given a meal for free, I did not know that I still needed to tip the waiter. I felt terrible. It bugged me for several days. Until finally one morning, I decided to go Hands Free by letting go of the kitchen mess to send \u201cDan\u201d his long over-do tip.<\/p>\n

I wrote a little note to him explaining who I was (the lady who couldn\u2019t get away from the saucy fish tacos\u2026I\u2019m sure he couldn\u2019t forget me if he tried). And assured him that I had simply forgotten the tip and that neglecting to do so was not a reflection of his wonderful service. I placed it in the mailbox feeling a sense of relief, satisfaction, and of doing \u201cwhat\u2019s right.\u201d That was that. Until one week later. Then I received this:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Here is what it said:<\/p>\n

Dear Mrs. Stafford,<\/em><\/p>\n

I want to thank you for your letter and the tip for your dinner at Chuy's. It really meant a lot to me that someone would take the time to go back and send a letter to someone they forgot to tip. I really appreciate your kindness and hope that others follow by your example.<\/em><\/p>\n

<\/em><\/p>\n

Sincerely,<\/em><\/p>\n

<\/em><\/p>\n

Dan<\/em><\/p>\n

<\/em><\/p>\n

I couldn\u2019t believe it. He was amazed that I took the time to send a letter\/tip and now I was even more amazed that he wrote back to thank me!\u00a0 The simple task that took a mere ten minutes to complete ended up being so much more than paying for a forgotten tip.<\/p>\n

Through my gesture to Dan, I had restored his belief in the goodness and integrity of people. Through his gesture to me, he had confirmed that words of kindness and respect are invaluable, and I should take the time to say them (or write them) more often.<\/p>\n

It would have been much easier, much more convenient, to simply forget about neglecting to tip my waiter. I am sure I could have said, \u201cI will do it tomorrow,\u201d until too much time had passed to do anything at all. And I am sure I could have justified my inaction by telling myself that it would probably not make any difference.<\/p>\n

But I didn\u2019t. I vividly remember the day I stood in the kitchen and told myself, \u201cDo it now, while you are thinking about it.\u201d<\/p>\n

I remember looking at the half unloaded dishwasher and dirty dishes in the sink that beckoned me to complete what I had started. Yet, I knew if I went ahead and finished that task, the thought of writing to Dan would pass. And then it would be gone.<\/p>\n

Going Hands Free. Letting go\u2026to grasp what really matters.<\/p>\n

I let go of a dirty dish and grasped the untarnished side of humanity.<\/p>\n

Lord knows I am a Hands Free Work In Progress, but this time, yes, this time, I got it right.<\/p>\n

Do you have a nagging thought of someone you need to thank or acknowledge? Instead of pushing it off, take time to do it now. It doesn\u2019t have to be a page-long eloquently written piece…simply a sentence or two, explaining what\u2019s on your heart. Grasping what matters. Isn\u2019t that what life is all about?<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I recently had the opportunity to practice one of my Hands Free strategies, which is called Take Time to Say It. Making an effort to express appreciation for people in my life through note writing has always been one of my \u201cBright Spots.\u201d Although my tendency is to write notes to people I already know, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":708,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[21],"tags":[32,72,99,1519,98,11],"gutentor_comment":6,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.handsfreemama.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/01\/IMG_33681-e1296318284450.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p1fUJF-br","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.handsfreemama.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/709"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.handsfreemama.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.handsfreemama.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.handsfreemama.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.handsfreemama.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=709"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.handsfreemama.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/709\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.handsfreemama.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/708"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.handsfreemama.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=709"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.handsfreemama.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=709"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.handsfreemama.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=709"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}