At this time of the year, we’re prompted to reflect on what we’re thankful for.  We often reflect on all the wonderful people and things we have in our lives.  Less often do we take the time to express our thanks to all those who have helped us become the people we are and build the lives we have built.  So today I want to extend a warm fuzzy to my Happy Days Playschool teacher Ms. Brenda Cook, who taught me a transformative lesson that has continued to impact me throughout my life.

All of us have moments in our childhood where an influential person – a parent, a teacher, a daycare provider, have taught us something that has changed our perspectives and improved our lives.  And this is what happened for me thanks to Ms. Cook.

At Happy Days, Ms. Cook led us in an activity that taught us about how our actions and words can affect others.  We cut out shapes on paper that were drawn in the form of a soft, fuzzy cotton ball with two kind eyes and a smiling mouth.  These were called “warm fuzzies” and we were asked to write things that we liked about someone else and then give it to them.  We were given an unlimited supply of these cut-outs and all of us worked feverishly to create as many warm fuzzies as we could.  I wrote nice things about my Mom, Dad, sisters and brother and excitedly gave each of them a warm fuzzy at the end of the day.

During this same lesson, the teacher also held up a spiky paper cut-out with a grumpy face on it.  She said: “This is called a ‘cold prickly.’ Cold pricklies are things that we can say that are unkind or could hurt other people’s feelings.”  She encouraged us to think carefully about our words, to consider whether we were giving  out “warm fuzzies” or “cold pricklies,” and to focus on giving warm fuzzies to others.

This simple lesson has been a powerful theme in my life. For a long time, I have been reflecting on the fact that, in our society, we don’t express our gratitude or give warm fuzzies to others enough.  So lately I have been trying to take the extra time to tell people or send an appreciative note to people who have positively impacted my life.  I have making efforts to give warm fuzzies to those around me as well as to people I don’t know (yet) if they have touched my life from afar (like a podcaster or author). 

My sister Rachel also taught me a powerful method of giving out warm fuzzies by making consistent efforts to tell people what we see them doing and how much we appreciate it.  We can let people know that we see:

• all the things they are doing to raise their kids to be kind, compassionate, thoughtful, contributing citizens;
• all the effort people are putting into running the household and taking care of the kids;
• how hard people around us are working to make sure their families are provided for;
• the little things that our family members do for us that show they care; and
• how those around us are standing up for injustice, for the earth, and for human rights.

So the next time you give thanks for the wonderful people around you, take the time to communicate how much you appreciate them.  In this season of giving thanks, consider who you can give a warm fuzzy to today.

I’m sure Ms. Cook would appreciate how much her lesson about warm fuzzies has stayed with me.  And I’m guessing she would also appreciate the following call to action: Let’s spread warm fuzzies whenever we can and eradicate all those cold pricklies from the world. 

Will you join me in creating a warm fuzzy revolution?

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