Small Kindnesses
Paying it forward doesn’t necessarily have to be a grand gesture. That is one thing a customer and I agreed on about the Love Notes jar that sits on the cash wrap desk at love, . I told her and her brother I was writing about the notes inside while they were writing out their notes to pass along.
The idea is simple, inviting, and cyclical, perhaps the way love should always be: take a love note from the jar and write one for the next person to take. Now, the “love notes” aren’t the kind with a romantic connotation, but rather they are meant to touch on what the store itself is all about: the concept of self-love. Call it passing along positivity, kindness, whatever you like; it’s something small that could mean a lot to someone. One of the perks of being behind the counter means meeting folks that have their own story, their own reason for stopping in the store.
Oftentimes, people are looking for gifts for loved ones: birthdays, graduations, anniversaries, house warmings, condolences, pick-me-ups. Items for the full spectrum of the human experience. While we may provide a lot of products for these small moments in others’ lives, words of kindness can often do the trick, if not moreso. I’ve experienced a couple of times people taking one of the rosy-colored slips of paper and immediately having a smile, remarking that those words were what they needed in that moment.
They vary from the short and funny to long and reassuring, but they all very rarely comment on any physical appearance kind of language, but rather someone’s character, which I think leads directly to the core of what strangers need from each other: understanding. I once read a question asking: is it better to be loved or to be understood? It’s a tough one, for sure, for myself, the more I thought about it, the more I became convinced that it is better to be understood, because I think with understanding comes a love or acceptance of someone. Maybe that’s what’s so compelling and inviting about the cyclical nature of the Love Notes, its the objective continuation of understanding and love.
We hope you enjoy some that have made their way into the jar, waiting for someone to receive when they need it, but for now, for you, should you need it:
