Hi Hi Hi!
I hope everyone had a wonderful long weekend…Happy Memorial Day! Thank you to the brave men and women who make the ultimate sacrifice to ensure our freedom.
I have something special for all of you this week, it is something that is very near and dear to my heart. Drumroll please… it is the “Hi Game”!!!!! It is a game that Aaron always encouraged us to play as kids and continues to encourage us to play as we become real life adults. This game will seem silly maybe even trivial, but I believe with every bone in my body it has the power to change the world.
The “Hi Game” is quite simple, I promise.
This game only requires one player (that’s right, it is something you can play on your own!) I encourage playing with another person to develop a friendly competition, its healthy competition if its for the greater good, right?
There are two rules to play… 1.) you must smile with all of your might and 2.) try your best to say “hi” to as many people as possible. See? I told you! Super simple.
As a tween I found this game mortifying, I felt socially awkward and now my brother is asking me to say hi to several strangers? That would require people seeing I had braces, an adolescent breakout, and stuttered when nervous… (Aaron often whipped this game out of his back pocket in heavily populated areas, i.e., airports, weddings, restaurants, jam-packed elevators, and/or sporting events). This game was so much bigger than I had the capacity to understand at the time. However, I knew it was something special because every single stranger [typically] had a huge smile on their face following Aaron’s abrupt “hi, hi, hi”!
Don’t get me wrong, there was the occasional individual who would be totally spooked following the loud HI! Ultimately, they would give a chuckle, smile, and be on their merry way.
Reflecting on these experiences forces me to believe that the simple “hi” had the ability to change the course of someone’s day, for a brief moment in time they were seen, they were connected. After all, isn’t that what we are all searching for in this world, connection?
Today, in my eyes, The Hi Game is beyond BRILLIANT! It is so very simple yet has the ability to change the world. I find myself “playing” this game all of the time, I try my best to say hi to anyone I cross paths with throughout the day. Sometimes the response is a tilted head of confusion… a look of did you just speak to me? More often then not it is greeted with a warm smile and a hi in return.
We live in a world where we are locked to our screens, counting likes, photo-shopping a flyaway hair, or just escaping reality… (Disclosure: I am guilty of this too) What if we all took the opportunity to play this game, just for today? I imagine this world would feel far more inclusive and connected. For the next twenty four hours I encourage you to embody all that is the hi game. Say “hi” to the barista who is brewing up your favorite coffee, your Uber driver, the person you sit next to on your morning commute… I think you get the point, say hi to everyone!
I would love to hear how this challenge goes for each and every one of you.
Head over to the Facebook page to share about your experience at The Heart Ability or Instagram @theheartability.
Seeing the similarities over the differences is the heart’s greatest ability.
