Day 311: Mari-Lyn Harris

August 7, 2010 at 12:01 am, Category: Inspiration

“… if you’re feeling bad, you know, the best advice I would give is if you’re feeling bad, go out and do some good for somebody else.  Go volunteer at the church, go volunteer and make somebody else feel better, and then you’ll have a feel-good day.”

.

.

Right click here to download…

.

Toni Reece: Thank you so much Mari-Lyn, for being part of this Project today, and before we begin, can you please introduce yourself?

Mari-Lyn Harris: Sure I’m Mari-Lyn Harris, and I’m married and I live in Sedona, Arizona, and I really just love helping people and inspiring people, so I started a little blog called Heart Jam where people can share their stories.

Toni: And it’s called Heart Gem?

Mari-Lyn: HeartJam.com.

Toni: Oh, okay.  So when you think of inspiration, who do you inspire, and how does it happen?

Mari-Lyn: I guess I would like to think that I’m inspiring lots of people to take action and be kinder to one another, and I guess that’s where the quote of “random acts of kindness” comes into play.  It also comes into play of being a new thought leader of thinking of how can things be better in our world, and how can we participate in that?

Toni: When you write about these things, how do people find you, and can you give me an example of how you know that you have made that difference and that people are taking action based on your examples?

Mari-Lyn: I think how people find me is either through searching of doing random acts of kindness, or they’re looking for some stories to write about or some inspiration, because I think overall people do want to make a difference, but they just may not know how, and so I think they’ll just do that key search, you know, on Google, and say, hey, “making a difference” and I pop  up.  So I think that’s probably how they find me.

Then also they find me because I just started something new this year.  I started going out and videoing people and for them to share their stories that they want the world to know about, and then I post the video on the blog.  So that’s just something new I’ve started to do, and that seems to … from there is just spreads.  It’s just like, what do you call it – referrals, or whatever.  People just share the content and say “Wow, you can find me here” or, you know, “Watch me here.” “I’m on TV, look!”

Toni: That’s fantastic.  You know, when you’re working with people or just meeting people and you know that they are interested in making a difference, or they’re sharing with you what those random acts of kindness are, what do you think happens then for others who are listening to this and learning from this?  How does it help people to explore their own potential?

Mari-Lyn: I think if somebody else is doing it … it’s one of those things that if somebody else is doing it, maybe I can do it.  Or when I first started writing the Heart Jam site, the blog, what I was also doing several years ago was promoting kindness in the workplace.  So from what that transpired is into a couple of kindness conferences for the workplace to help people, give them some ideas, and people that use that kind of philosophy already in their business, and they would share that with the audience and they go “Wow, that is what we so want.”  It’s kind of interesting – the workers and the employees really want it, but the employers don’t quite get it, and they think it’s kind of “pooh-pah.”

Toni: Yeah, yeah.

Mari-Lyn: So then what I did is I created Kindness Hero Awards, and I kind of do them every year in November because World Kindness Day is on November 13th of every year.  And so I would get people to nominate somebody else that performed a kind act, and then we would present the awards at the conferences, or I would mail them out a little certificate and say, hey, you were nominated by so-and-so, here’s your certificate kind of thing.

And you know, it’s kind of like people would say “Well, why would you reward people or give out an award or something for being kind?”  It’s because they need to be appreciated that they’re making a difference.  So that’s just basically …

Toni: Well, it’s not only their recognition, but it’s also, like you had stated earlier, it’s the recognition of the people who are doing those random acts of kindness, but it’s also then demonstrating to others what that act of kindness was and the difference that it made so they can learn from that, I would imagine.

Mari-Lyn: Right, yeah.  Like for example, there’s a guy who would drive by, order his coffee and say “I’m going to buy the next person behind me the coffee.”  I’ve done that a few times just going into a coffee bar.  I’m sitting and having coffee, and I would say “I’m going to buy the next person’s coffee” and when they do, they say “Oh, here’s the money for that.”  And I say “No, I don’t want the money for it.  I want you to pass it on to somebody else.”  So there’s that fear of “Oh well, you know, what’s it going to cost me for you to do that for me?”

Toni: Right.  So really, random acts of kindness kind of become a bit suspicious, don’t they, these days?

Mari-Lyn: Yeah, yeah.

Toni: Why do you think that is?

Mari-Lyn: Oh, people I think just aren’t used to somebody’s kindness, or they’re somewhat afraid of it.  Yeah, I don’t know what it is.  Maybe they fear that they’re going to get mugged or something’s going to happen to them, rather than just be inspired and say “Wow, thank you!”  A simple thank you is all that’s needed.

Toni: Well, thank goodness there’s people like you out there in the world that are still doing that.  So, Mari-Lyn, what inspires you?

Mari-Lyn: People, you know, that are giving and who are open and receptive.  People that are just saying like “Wow, how can I help you?” or “Wow, this is …”  You know, anything that’s heartfelt, you know, to me inspires me.  I guess I have God as my guiding light too.  My God source is another inspiration for me.

Toni: And now when you are seeking inspiration, do you find yourself being in the same type of places or reaching for the same type of tools?

Mari-Lyn: Well, I guess, you know, my heart space and my God space is just really about helping me stay connected to that wonderful power, that enthusiasm, that love, that place where I know exists, and sometimes I get off-track too, just like everybody else, and it’s like saying okay, help me be reconnected to that source.  Help me stay that source.

So for somebody who might need to read something I’ve written or say something to them that they feel inspired to say “Wow, this is exciting, and thank you.”  You could just say whatever it was that meant so much to them at that time.

Toni: So Mari-Lyn, were you always like this to demonstrate the kindness and help people to see that there’s a better way, live by example?  Is this something that you’ve always done?

Mari-Lyn: I guess I have in some aspects, because you know, when I was growing up, I was bullied a lot at school, and I’d go home crying.  I’d say “Well, do these people have to be so mean?  Why do they have to be that way?”  I guess perhaps a part of me from there just said, you know, “I’m going to show people that there’s another way.  There’s a better way.”

I also used to work at this place and gossip was rampant, and it was terrible.  If you said something, within 12 hours it was back right at you, like what you said, but of course it’s like that.  Remember as a child you said something in a can to the next person and it goes down to the next person to the very end, and what you said is nothing at all what you had said.

Toni: Right.

Mari-Lyn: So that kind of aspect to me is kind of mean in one sense, and yet it’s just how bad we communicate with each other.  So why not find a way to show people that, you know, if we just did all small, little kind acts with each other, every day, like three a day, how much better the world would be.

Toni: Do you reach children?

Mari-Lyn: I was more working with adults because they’re the ones that need to be changed so much.  Children are so much there already, they just … you know, they’re … I don’t know where they pick it up because some parents don’t teach it to them, and some do, so I guess I don’t really reach children.  I’m more or less have been reaching out to the adults to say “Hey!”

Toni: Absolutely.  It’s really interesting too, because of the way you speak of your personal experience to coming to a place where you’re like “Hey, you know what, it doesn’t need to be this way, and so I’m going to show that there’s a different way and a better way to be.”  I would imagine – I would hope – that there are people that are reading or watching or listening to you that would take that back to their children.

Mari-Lyn: Well, I think a lot of the schools that I know about actually do have, you know, a week of … Random Acts of Kindness Week at school or teachers, you know, take the kids out and do school trips or that type of thing.  And if they go out and they practice doing something kind for somebody else for a week, or the kids might have … like, I love the movie “Pay It Forward.”  I mean even if every parent watched that movie with their kids, it would be so much of a better world today and that they would take action, because it really simplifies everything.  There’s this little kid that comes up with an idea of like, okay, we have, you know, one idea, and we do three acts of kindness in some big way in our life.  It’s the perfect example for any parent or family to watch.

Toni: Could you imagine having a Kindness Hero Program for children?

Mari-Lyn: Yeah.  I think there are some.  I’m sure there are.

Toni: Yeah, that’s amazing.  So, Mari-Lyn, what are you doing now to explore your own potential so you can continue to showcase this kindness and keep this type of movement alive?

Mari-Lyn: I still continue to give out the awards and ask for nominations.  In my own personal life … actually it was funny that we’ve been talking about this.  A couple of Sundays ago, a friend of mine and I, we went out and did the free hugs for a Sunday for half a day.  That was a lot of fun.  It was interesting to even watch people not even want to receive a hug, or thinking there’s some sort of “Oh no!”  and then there’s some people that totally embraced it.

So for me, it’s just doing things like that.  It’s also, for me, about helping people and helping them to transform their business, because that’s what I do.  I do marketing.  And so it’s whether they do little things to transform their business, to transform their personal life, or maybe it’s, like I said, just going out there.  And if you’re feeling bad, you know, the best advice I would give is if you’re feeling bad, go out and do some good for somebody else.  Go volunteer at the church, go volunteer and make somebody else feel better, and then you’ll have a feel-good day.

Toni: Thank you.  What a great way to end the interview.  It has been a pleasure to talk to you.  Thank you for the work that you’re doing, and we will have a link to your blog so that people can check it out and pass it along, and for showing up today, we cannot thank you enough.

Mari-Lyn: Okay.  Thank you very, very much for your time.

Toni: Take care.

Mari-Lyn: Have a great day.

___________________________________________________________

For more information about Mari-Lyn Harris:  heartjam.com

.