Search Results for 'popular' (3006 matches)

A Question to A Four Year Old

During dinner, we had a 'small talk conversation' when we asked our 4-year-old Lola:  "Lola, who do you love the most?  Mum, Dad, or someone else?"

She promptly replied, "I don't want to make a choice.   I love everybody! Sometimes people do things I do not like, but I like them still."

I'm usually the one to respond very quickly, but I was speechless after this major lesson.

Sometimes there is a great teacher, an avatar, very near me but when I'm not really paying attention, I miss the opportunity for a very precious lesson.

Biscuits On A Cold February Night

I was sitting on the front steps of a small bakery near where I live and eating some noodles. I was enjoying my meal in peace with no one around. There is a burned out house right opposite the bakery and I know a group of people live there. The house has no electricity and has very poor ventilation.    I happened to glance up from my noodles and I saw a group of women gathered outside the house. They were sitting on the ground sharing a meal of some sort.    Seeing them there, a thought occurred to me. I am grateful for the food I receive every day but there are also folks who may be getting one square meal a day, or less. I felt that I needed to go visit with the women who were sitting there.   I bought a large packet of biscuits from the bakery and went over. The women looked slightly ... Read Full Story >>

How Kindness Changed My Life

During my travels over the weekend I was able to give lots of sincere compliments and do little things to make people happy.  Just little things like helping a lady open a door or complimenting a friend on her lovely voice. 

I had time this weekend to reflect on how different my life is now.  It is so strange to know that all this happiness was there, but I just couldn't see it or reach it.

I was afraid to do nice things for people, I don't know why.  Maybe because I was shy.  I would think of something kind to do, but then talk myself out of it during an internal dialogue in my own mind. 

When I joined this site one of the quesitons I asked was, 'Is it being 'holier than thou' to do the act of kindness or should I do it anyway?'

Many gave me wonderful advice and one person wrote 'to do it, but do it humbly'. 

I really want to thank all of you on this site.

Pumping Gas For An Old Lady

Not a really stupendous story, but I was really jazzed after this small act.

I'd stopped to fill up the gas tank on my pickup and noticed an older lady (in her 80s) in the next lane. She was walking with one of the canes with outriggers and seemed to be having a problem getting around.

I watched for a bit, not wanting to insult her if she was making it. I finally asked her if I could help. Got a look like, "I don't know you." Then I asked if I could carry something in to the attendant for her. She considered this for a moment and handed me $30.00 to take in.

I did, and then pumped the gas for her.

It turns out that this woman, with the prettiest brown eyes, had hurt her knee, and was trying to get to her doctor.   I'm glad I was able to lend a hand.

The Frail Elderly Lady On The Other Side Of The Door

I instruct an exercise class at a retirement home every Tuesday afternoon. There is one resident who is no longer able to attend the class because she is becoming so frail. She has had several falls. We have had an agreement between us that I would still knock on her door to invite her to class but instead of an invite I give what she calls a 'wee cuddle'. I have been doing this since about March. Today there was a sign on her door saying she had a fall and was unable to use her walker and must use a wheelchair. I did not knock because she often is napping at the time I make my rounds to gather up folks for the class. After class she was just coming out of the elevator for the social hour. One whole side of her face is badly bruised, cuts around her ... Read Full Story >>

Pennies For A Loving Cause

I am collecting pennies at work for a co-worker. He doesn't know I'm doing this. 

Surrending My Want To Another's Need

I had been feeling a bit blue and alone, so I thought I'd treat myself to something I wanted.  I went to the grocery store to pick up some items I needed to make some chili bean soup. I had a hankering for it and felt like I'd treat myself to something I wanted. I could almost taste the soup.  I had the beans the onions, the ground beef, my mouth was watering. Then out of nowhere a thought of my sister came to mind. We had spoken via email just the day before. She told me that she and my 13-month-old nephew had been battling a virus all week and feeling pretty tired. As I thought of this, I  thought that I should bring something over for dinner.  She loves my Mexican meatball soup (Albondigas), but I wanted Chili soup, and so the battle within began. I already had everything for ... Read Full Story >>

Just With A Hug

There is a young girl that works in my office who has had a lot of tragedy in her life lately.  While I have a hard time relating to her life style, it hasn't been hard for me to detect her sadness lately.  Today, I offered her a hug and she accepted with open arms...I think I needed it to, because we stood there and embraced for a while.  She cried and I listened...it's amazing how much tears can release from ones body and how much another can learn from those tears.  She thanked me and walked away.  About an 1/2 hour later, she stood up from her desk and looked at me and asked for another hug, and I most definitely was happy to provide it.    Don't ever underestimate the effects that a hug or smile can have on another person. I will hold her deep in thoughts tonight, ... Read Full Story >>

The Long Life of a Short Friendship

My son's day care provider experienced a tragic sudden death of a friend. She had just met this fellow and had sensed a deep connection before dropping him off at his car. He had a car accident that night, and was killed. Deeply moved by the sadness that my friend was experiencing, I was compelled to write her some comforting words about being able to see the positives of how her friend had influenced her life and suggested that he possibly came to her as an angel of change for her life. This trajedy, impacted her deeply and encouraged her to reevaluate her life, as tragedy often does. I encouraged her to look past the normal conditionings that would have us concentrate on the drama of a trajedy and suggested she instead reflect on the positive message this friend's life gave her and the people around her. This approach would ... Read Full Story >>

Teaching English Helped Him Be Seen Again

  I am an Iranian man who has been battling cancer for the past two years. A transpant has meant things have been better over the past six months. It means I have a lot more time to spend online learning new things.   I have a friend in England who is really feeling home-sick. It's making him quite depressed. He would tell me that he didn't want to do stuff, he just wanted to be left alone, and so on. But I didn't want to leave him in his depression.   So, I asked him if he could teach me English! Even though we were far apart we could communicate by Skype. He jumped from his seat towards the computer in his enthusiasm! "Yes! I'd really like to do that! Can I do that? Please?"   Now, after a few lessons, I can see him becoming happier and more energetic again!   In am sixty-two years old and ... Read Full Story >>

The Little Girl Who Changed Me

At first, I didn't know what was happening to me, I started feeling sad, bored and empty. I told my mom about my feelings and she suggested that I should start helping others. I was confused because I didn't get how by helping others I could start feeling full and happy. So I thought I should give it a try. The next day, I went to a house called "Las niñas de Jesus". This house is a catholic house for young women that were abandoned or taken by the DIF. When I arrived I didn't know what to expect, I didn't know how to talk to them or what to talk about. I started helping them to do their homework. I started going very often and really enjoying it. One day, I met this little girl in the house of las niñas de Jesus, she started asking me about my parents, my ... Read Full Story >>

Keep Smiling!

I wanted to share how I received kindness today. I moved to a high- density urban setting from a small community a couple of years ago.

Initially, I attempted to smile and wave at the people in my neighborhood. But this was met with indifference and often dismissive-ness.

So, after a while I gave up, kept my head down. I became increasingly dissatisfied with my living conditions and considered moving. But then I realized that I was becoming someone I didn't want to be.

So, I started waving and smiling again. Well, this morning while walking my dogs, two neighbors passedme without a glance. I noticed that this didn't feel very nice and I felt discouraged. But a third person passed in their car with a big smile on his face.
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It made my day! I smiled back and kept smiling all the way home. I guess the moral of the story for me was, never underestimate the power of a smile! So keep smiling everyone!

World Kindness Week Day 3- A 100 Days Of Kindness

Yesterday I made a decision to do an act of kindness every day for 100 days and write it on a chart.  It can be something really small.  No sooner had I made my decision than an opportunity came along.

I saw a little girl lose the ribbon from her hair.  He mum didn't notice.  I ran over, picked it up and went running after them.  I gave the mum the ribbon and she gave me something - a lovely smile.

I think it will be fun looking for opportunities to be kind.

Character Counts!

My favorite kindness sidekick, my 7 year old daughter Rachel, was a teacher of kindness today. I wanted to share her beautiful kindness story with all of you. We were invited to her school today by her principal for a special ceremony. Her school has a program called Character Counts which has 6 pillars (Trustworthiness, Respect, Responsibility, Fairness, Caring and Citizenship). Once a month they recognize one student in the school who exemplifies the character of a particular pillar. Today the focus was on the Caring pillar, which represents being kind, compassionate, showing you care, expressing gratitude, forgiving others and helping people in need. Well, as you may have guessed, Rachel was the honoree!  The principal called her up to the front and read many wonderfully kind things that Rachel does and what a positive role model she is. Her teacher then followed with many specific examples of Rachel’s kindness and how ... Read Full Story >>

Carrying a Load With A Big Smile

It is a terribly rainy wet winters day here in Tauranga. While I was walking from the library after getting together my University applications for next year at the end of my lunch break, a man was walking towards me with two HUGE boxes of pamphlets. I thought, "What on earth is that man trying to do? Carry all that stuff?"  Then all of a sudden he dropped it all!!!!!!  It was a terrible mess with hundreds of brochures all over the path in front of me! "Oh no," I thought. The man sat down and started trying to pick all of the brochures up. I couldn’t believe how many people walked on by without even caring in the least. I thought, "I’m not going to be one of those people who don’t care about this man. I’m going to help him."  So, even though it was the end of my lunch break ... Read Full Story >>

Flowers and Wheel Chairs

I am the Director of a little non profit Youth Centre and we do at least one act of kindness a month with the youth who attend. Just this month the youth handed out flowers to random community members. There was great energy among the kids that day, after we exchange stories on how we felt about the act of kindness we did. A 14 year old male stood up and said "Id like to say something." I was a bit surprised as he is a shy and quite boy but I said go ahead. "Today I gave a lady who was in a wheel chair a flower. She was putting her two kids in the back seat of her car. When I went up to her and said, hello, she was suprised when I handed her a flower. I quickly said Happy Valentines day and started to walk away. She ... Read Full Story >>

Offering More Love, Less Fear

I'm sort of new to this small acts of kindness game, so I'm not sure how people feel about picking up hitchhikers. I've always felt that as long as you don't put your self in a completely unsafe position, it is an OK thing to do. But I'd never done it before until this week. It was about 9pm and I was walking in my school's campus from my office to my car. On the way, I ran into an fellow who was obviously lost. He asked me for directions, saying he needed to get to East Palo Alto. But the problem was he was walking in the complete opposite direction! I pointed him in the correct direction, but warned him it was a long ways off. He didn't speak English very well, and generally seemed disoriented. I quickly felt like helping him. Though he was a big guy, the vibe I ... Read Full Story >>

Mel's Going Away Gift

Several years ago, I was promoted to supervisor.  I was so excited  about being promoted, but little did I know, more importantly, how many valuable life lessons I would learn while in this position.  Early on, I was short-handed and needed another staff member.  Management  and my senior staff joined me in interviewing the candidates and after much deliberation and voting, we hired a guy called Melvin -- or Mel as he liked to be called.  He was a character of sorts -- a retired cop, thick skinned, street smart, tough and rough around the edges.  Mel had much experience in the real world, but I wasn't sure he would be a good fit for the group or the company.  When Mel first joined our team, he teased us relentlessly, cussed up a storm and was loud and aggressive, but after some time we all got used to him and realized that he actually added ... Read Full Story >>

Ichi-go Ichi-e, "one time, one meeting"

I had an "ichi-go ichi-e" meeting on the subway ride home this evening with the gal sitting next to me.

We talked all the way home (a 30-minute ride!). It was like talking with an old friend and many laughs were shared. At the end, I gifted her with a peace dove and shared a touch on her arm and blessed her as I got up to leave the subway car. 

Also had an "ichi-go ichie-e" with a 93-year-old woman sitting at the table next to ours in the restaurant. She was so spirited and joyful that I leaned over and asked her what was her "secret" ,

It's so easy to make friends – all it takes is reaching out with a smile and sharing conversation. Grateful.

Post it Note Kindness at the Mall

December kindness for today.  I visited the mall, went into ladies' fitting rooms and bathroom, left positive messages on heart post-its. One of my favorite RAKS (random acts of kindness) to do! Our words matter. They can encourage and build people up, or shame and tear them down. 

When I was putting the hearts on the bathroom mirror a little girl saw me and kept saying, "hearts, hearts, I love hearts!" :)

I left a stack of blank post-its and a pen behind in the bathroom for others to add messages if they'd like. ♡