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Jackpot of Kindness from an unlikely source

When I read a post about taking someone to the movies, I was reminded of something that happened a couple of years ago. I used to drink Coca-cola and they had a contest where there was a code inside the bottle cap. You went to a website and entered the code and maybe you won something. I won some free cokes. But then, I won the Grand Prize! I was surprised and pleased. The grand prize was free movies for a year!! What that turned out to be was that the company sent me 52 admission tickets for a local movie theater chain -- they figured one movie a week was what free movies for a year meant. All of the tickets had expiration dates later than a year from the day I received them. I used quite a few taking friends to movies we all wanted to see. But the best thing I did ... Read Full Story >>

A Simple Yet Unforgettable Lesson In Helping Others

It's the middle of the night and I find writing this blog nothing short of imperative. As I've been sitting on the floor in my disheveled room, I began to recall such an important moment in my life. Some might pass it off as "dumb" or "unimportant", but for me, it has held a great magnitude of power over my mind and how I live my life. Something so simple, yet so precious has lingered inside my mind for years now.  It was a very cold winter evening when a friend of mine had attempted suicide and was rushed to Westchester Medical Center where she stayed, unconscious for quite a while. FINALLY she awoke. A friend of mine and I decided to visit her, so we picked up some picturesque flowers and were on our way. We reached the hospital and dashed madly across the freezing parking lot through the hospitals automatic doors. After signing in, up ... Read Full Story >>

Happy Birthday And A Gold Coin

While eating lunch with my 4 year old daughter this afternoon at a fast food restaurant, i noticed an old man walking to the table with a cane. The manager kindly carried his food for him. During the meal I overheard the man tell a woman it was his birthday. So I whispered what I heard to my daughter. She loves when people have birthdays. I told her it was ok for her to wish him a happy birthday. He obviously was spending this special day alone. At first she was shy and decided against it. No problem. As I was emptying our tray into the trash she turned to him and quietly wished him a Happy Birthday.  I could tell he was touched by the way he looked at her. I came up behind her and gave him my own wishes. He was grateful. As we walked away he called my daughter back ... Read Full Story >>

Baby Shower For Charity

I just received an invitation to a "Baby Shower for Charity Tea" The hostess explained in her invitation that this will be just like a regular baby shower EXCEPT all gifts will be donated to a battered women's shelter. What a fun way to get together and help others at the same time. She included a list of the most needed items which included diapers, baby bottles, clothes (for babies and small children), baby wipes, baby blankets and snugglies, pajamas (for babies and children), etc.  

Tandem Acts of Kindness in Two Cities

A few weeks ago, I was in a crowded local train in Mumbai. I was sitting in a window seat of the super-crowded ladies' compartment. I was lucky to find a seat as I had got in at the first station. In a few minutes, the seats were all taken, and most people had to stand jam-packed in the aisles. Anyone who has been in Mumbai knows how frustrating a crowded train can be. In the middle of all this, I saw a young girl, about 10 years old, probably from a poor family. It was evident that she was used to the crowd, and the pushing and jostling, because she would silently shift position to be just that little bit more comfortable. I felt a little sad sitting there watching her having to stand. It struck me, that this is the time to practice a random act of kindness. However, I had to overcome some ... Read Full Story >>

Life is Like a Bank Account

This story is about a 92 year old, petite, well-poised and proud lady. She is fully dressed each morning by eight, with her hair fashionable coifed and makeup perfectly applied, even though she is legally blind. She is moving to a nursing home today. Her husband of 70 years recently passed away, making the move necessary. After many hours of waiting patiently in the lobby of the nursing home, she smiled sweetly when told her room was ready. As she maneuvered her walker to the elevator, I provided a visual description of her tiny room, including the eyelet sheets that had been hung on her window. "I love it," she stated with the enthusiasm of an eight year old having just been presented with a new puppy. "Mrs. Jones, you haven't seen the room yet.  Just wait." "That doesn't have anything to do with it," she replied. "Happiness is something ... Read Full Story >>

When Blessings Come Home To Roost

I was recently invited to dinner by a friend. During the meal, the manager  of the restaurant came over and said that our meal was free. He stood there smiling at me and there was an air of familiarity about him but I couldn't quite place him. Finally I asked him if he knew me. He laughed and said I had probably forgotten him, but that I had changed his life.  My friend was quite curious and asked him how I had done this. He said that twelve years ago he was in recovery and I was teaching a stress management class that was mandatory for him to take in order to live in recovery housing.  I asked the group what their number one stress was and most, including him, had said it was their bosses. He said I listened carefully to everyone and then took a chair and placed it in the center of ... Read Full Story >>

Finding Happiness By Giving It To Others

A young lady complained to her counselor that she felt that her whole life was empty and had no meaning to her. The counselor saw an old lady who cleaned the office floors and called her over.  She told the young lady that this old cleaning lady was happy and asked her to explain how she had found that happiness. The old lady put down her broom and sat on a chair and told her story: "Well, some time back, my husband died of malaria and three months later my only son was killed by a car. I was devastated.  I had nobody... I had nothing left... I could not sleep... I could not eat and I never smiled at anyone. I even thought of taking my own life." Then one evening a little kitten followed me home from work. Somehow I felt sorry for that kitten. It was cold outside, so I decided to let the kitten ... Read Full Story >>

My Smile Deck Adventure

I have received a few Smile Decks and decided I would use one.    I read through the cards and love all the different ideas. I try to make sure I do at least one random act of kindness each week and thought the Smile Deck could help me with that!   There are many ways you can use the cards. Each suite has a different focus and they get progressively more challenging the higher you go. Since I have been committed to practicing kindness I figured I would just shuffle the deck and every few days pull one out and do whatever it says.    So that is what I did!    Yesterday I had the eight of hearts, which asks you to acknowledge an act of kindness by someone else and thank them. I have been the recipient of an act of kindness in the past week so this was a perfect card!    I put together a ... Read Full Story >>

Just 2 Quarters Worth Of Kindness

This morning there was a young man roaming the campus. He comes from one of the half-way drug rehab/mental illness houses on the surrounding streets. He's quiet, polite, and I think very lonely, and bored. I saw him earlier standing at the soda vending machines, jiggling change in his pockets. It appeared he didn't have enough money for a soda at $1.50. I returned from the adjacent building and he was bending down and looking for dropped change under the vending machines. Nothing to be found. I asked him how much money he needed and he replied "just 2 quarters". I reached into my pocket and magically, I had 2 lonely little quarters in my pocket. Gave it to him and he got his Dr. Pepper and flashed me the biggest smile. I asked him what he was going to eat for lunch. He said they have food back at ... Read Full Story >>

One Garbage Bag at a Time

I live in an apartment building where there are several elderly people and other tenants that are on a low or fixed income. There is a older gentleman neighbor of mine that is always willing to help out and go out of his way to help anyone in need. A few weeks ago, I was taking a large amount of trash out to the dumpster. This neighbor saw me and stopped to help me as he was taking out his own trash. When we got to the dumpster, he dumped his trash out of the bag. However, he kept his trash bag. "Why don't you throw the trash bag away?" I asked him. He replied that he has been using the same trash bag for a couple of months because he really didn't have money to spare to buy new ones. This immediately made me tear up. I thought about how we can ... Read Full Story >>

Helping a Person in Need

A homeless person was begging in a shopping mall for money and food. He asked me as well, and at first I declined.  

Then, he asked me if I was going to the grocery store located below, and that gave me a thought.  I went back to find him, and when I finally did, I offered to buy him food from the grocery store.  

I went shopping with this guy. He said to me that hadn't eaten for 2 days.  He also mentioned that he might get an appartement from an organization in my country that provides help and guidance to those in need.  

I said to him that he could buy for 5 euro and he did. He bought a loaf of bread, some yoghurt, cheese to put on the bread and some chocolate.

Even though the chocolate made the total a little over 5 euro, I couldn't lelt him put it back and told him to take what he wanted. 

He was so glad I did this for him and was so thankfull! 

Greetings,

Cirrus

Teaching Kindness, Staying Kind

The other day I decided to teach my son about the power of small acts of kindness.  He had won some lollies in a prize machine in the local supermarket, so I asked him if he would like to share his win with the next child that walks past.  He was hesitant because he is a shy young man but said yes after I encouraged him a bit. A father and his child were nearby.  I approached the father and asked if my son could give his daughter a lolly that he had won.  The father looked at me sideways and was unsure what to say.  I further explained how I was coaching my son about the power of kindness.  Eventually he said it was okay. We approached his daughter ... who wouldn’t accept the lollies!  She too was looking at us sideways with uncertainty!  At this stage my son was rather ... Read Full Story >>

The Circle of Giving and Receiving

Anonymous giving and acts of kindness can lead the giver to a very lonely place in the universe.  Like the Lone Ranger or some other disguised hero, we do kind things all the time and so often the people on the receiving end don’t see it or don’t recognize it. Living a life of altruism, in its most ideal form, means setting the ego aside and not doing what we do for credit.  Usually, I have no problem with this at all.  But there are those days, perhaps when I’m feeling a little weak or drained, where I find myself feeling lonely with it all, feeling like I’m giving, giving, giving, to a world that is in super receiving mode and asleep to what’s being done for them.  I get a little discouraged. Even idealized heroes had their inner circle of friends who knew who they really were and what their life ... Read Full Story >>

Kindness, The New Stimulus Package

Are you just plain sick of being bombarded by the media with the untold horrors and predictions of our impending doom?  I've heard the words "Stimulus Package" so many times it doesn't even mean anything anymore. I want to introduce a new kind of stimulus package that doesn't have a thing to do with the government:  Kindness.  What do you think would happen if everyone practiced being kind for just one day?  I sure as heck know.  The world as we know it would be transformed.   Impossible?  Consider this:  I organized a Kindness Challenge at a local arts and jazz festival in April.  My goal was to remind people what happens when we practice being kind.  It's a feeling most of us have forgotten.  The challenge was to entice 100 people attending the festival to do 100 kind acts within 100 minutes.  The result amazed everyone involved because when all was said ... Read Full Story >>

Changing a Tire and Teaching a Son

Last week as I pulled into the parking lot with my son for his baseball game, I saw a woman trying to change her flat tire. I told my son I would get him over to his practice field and then I was going back to help the woman change her tire. When I got back to the parking lot, nobody had stopped to help her. I went over and offered. She tried to be nice and said that she was fine, but I could see otherwise so I insisted. Besides, my mother as she watches me from above would have cut a deal to send a pigeon to deliver a “special present” for me if her son had walked by and done nothing.  Another woman parked nearby and said she had some wipes in the car, as I was getting dirty from the tire. She waited for us to finish ... Read Full Story >>

Shopping Cart Outside A Car Door

A few weeks ago, I went to my usual retail therapy session at the local Target store. On my way to the front door, I noticed that there was a car parked by the front doors facing the wrong direction but with the passenger door open.  A woman came out of the driver side and waited by the passenger door, and out came a frail little old lady walking very slowly and using the shopping cart as as walker.  As she got closer to the passenger door, the driver took her by the hand to help her in the car and then I noticed that she had this look of uneasiness looking at the cart as if thinking, "Oh great, now what do I do with this?"  She had to put the lady in the car, drop off the cart in its place, go to the other side of her car, drive out ... Read Full Story >>

The Empty Seat Next to Mine

I've been holding on to a good bunch of Smile Cards for some time now and decided it was about time I started using them more often!  Any opportunity I get, no matter how big or small I am going to do an act of kindness and encourage the pay-it-forward idea. The other day I attended a large business event.  I was seated in a row of seats where all chairs were taken except for one chair next to me.  It was the only good viewing spot left in the room.  There were other chairs available, but they were a distance away and to the side of the room.  A few minutes later, two young men stood near me gazing the auditorium for the best seats they could find.  "How many seats do you need?" I inquired.  "Two," one of them replied.  I flashed back to my Smile Card resolution and immediately got up.  "Here, you can my seat and the ... Read Full Story >>

Two Quick Judo-Joy-Chops

I was on my way to the post office. I hadn’t found a parking place on my first pass up the street and was now making a left turn into a small parking lot in order to loop back towards the post office, in effect accomplishing a U-turn legally. It’s a tight space and there’s a mail box set up right inside the lot so people can pull in, roll down their window and reach out to stick a letter into the box without getting out of their cars. As I completed my turn into the lot, I saw a four-door Buick pulled up alongside the mailbox in front of me. I would be delayed while the driver ahead reached out to put mail into the mail slot. I happened to be in a high-energy mode and at first was impatient as I watched the hand tentatively trying to get a small ... Read Full Story >>

Pay-It-Forward New Year Resolution

2010 is finally over, so why not make the resolution to pay-it-foward? Some one very near and dear to me is very inspired after watching the movie 'Pay-it-Foward', and we both want to make it a goal to spread the seeds of loving kindness in 2011. It would be most appretiated if you join us, and follow the ripples :) If you're reading this let this be your new years resolution! To do one kind act to three people, and have those three people do one kind act to another three people...and have it have a chain reaction. If we can do this in enough sequences we can cover the city. 3x3=9x3=27x3=81 (That's only three sequences). 14 sequences equals approx 14,348,907 people...that's a little more than Manhattan! So it's simple, do one kind thing to three people, and lets make a change! :) Kindness will always endure and we both share the same morals of ... Read Full Story >>