Stories of Kindness from Around the World

Birthday Gifts

I gifted cupcakes on my birthday to the therapists I work with.

I comforted a friend who was anguished over circumstances in his life.

Chattered with the squirrels in my front yard...thank TH for that inspiration.

I started putting together a basket of bracelets and peace doves to leave at the YMCA for people to take one.
Gave a good friend a load of asiago chibatta bread


 

Unexpected Help

An old man helped me in repairing my bike. It was very hot weather, almost 40 degree Celsius and my bike stopped running in the middle of the road. I didn’t have tools on my bike to repair it.

An old man was passing by and asked me what happened and I said "my bike is not starting". He said" my house is nearby. Come with me and we will try to fix it".

He took me to his house and gave me some tools 🧰 and helped me in repairing it. And we fixed it successfully. We felt very relaxed and calm. He also offered me tea.

He is so generous, I thanked him for being so kind.

Success

I used to make greeting cards and quote cards over the years. Others were helping me in this regard. Last seven years, I live more time in India and visit USA for 3-4 months when needed. I gave greeting cards and quote cards making stuff to a friend. But his business did not permit him to do so. I got the stuff back from him. Some card making stuff was with another friend. I was thinking of giving up card making stuff to any school, so they get most out of it. My friend's wife suggested to donate them to the Salvation Army or Goodwill for after Corona pandemic schools do not accept anything for others. My focus was on school, and my positive thinking gave me success. Quitters never win. I asked our dear KS friend Mish to help me find any school. She found one schoolteacher. I am grateful to ... Read Full Story >>

Small Acts

I was in my car just pulling out of a local cafe's parking spot when I noticed a man in a wheelchair struggling to get across the parking lot.

I stopped, got out, and helped the man, pushing him to the door of the café. He wasvery appreciative.

I noticed that as we approached the door, that others hurried to help open the door for us. Small acts of kindness do inspire others. 😊
 

Planting Seeds

The local cafe that employs folks who are differently-abled is going through a tough time financially. They have weathered the pandemic and many other financial storms, but I had never seen the owner so discouraged---I gave her big hugs and told her I am going to find someone on the city council who can at least listen and hopefully help. Just heard back from my council member that they will schedule a zoom meeting and I have asked the owner to be there so she can share her story. Feel good about bringing these two strong women together to hopefully find a solution! You all know I call this place the "kindness cafe" and have brought many people there to witness the magic. Its impact on the community cannot be measured in dollars. Helping a friend find student volunteers for a community science outreach event. Though I can't be there, hopefully some ... Read Full Story >>

A Sweet Meet

It’s warming up here in NYC today…the mailman looked hot! 🥵

💧 My offer of water was so graciously accepted…he held a gentle energy.

🕊 Gave him a peace dove with the water & he gifted me a beautiful smile & a “thank you so much”

❤️ A feel good give 👍

Green alternative with Soap Nuts

Today I tried out soap nuts (aka soap berries) instead of conventional laundry detergent. Only 5 for a full washload and my clothes came out sparkling clean and smelling lovely. Really pleased with the results and will continue to buy and use these. No way back now for me!

Keen to do more for Mother Earth by reducing some more plastic / cutting out chemicals where I can. Seemingly you can even use soap nuts to clean your home, wash your dishes and even wash your hair. So I boiled up the soap nuts which came out nice and soft from the washing machine and let them simmer for about half an hour. Totally looking forward to trying out a new green cleaning detergent and a washing-up liquid. Next plan is to replace plastic water bottles for glass ones as these will def get recycled.

Happy Celebrating

❤️ We invited two of our neighbor-friends to join us at our 45th anniversary celebrate at our favorite local restaurant.

🎂 Unbeknownst to them, we arranged for a birthday cake to be served at the end of the meal, to celebrate the husband’s 75th birthday, which is also this week. I knew his favorite was strawberry shortcake, so that’s what I ordered :)

After a leisurely wonderful meal sharing, the waitstaff came out singing, with the cake & we all sang Happy Birthday 🎶 And then they started to sing Happy Anniversary to us :)

😊They shared some pictures I took there with their sons who live a good distance away.

A good time was had by all ❤️

Being There

I made a site visit to the outskirts of our city Chennai India along with my client. He is in the process of trying to sell some plots which are part of a large Lay-out.
He was very happy I accompanied him. Sometimes you need to be available and also help them professionally so that they have better hope.

This too is kindness, that is, giving my time and being with him and also helping him to get back some of the money he has invested in the land.
Being an architect I give him right advice. More importantly he has complete confidence in me.
My presence reassures him and we get along well.
Please wish him well!

Today, It's Chocolate Kindness

Today, it's chocolate kindness for former office colleagues who happened to be the organizers of the meeting I attended today.

What better sweet way to reconnect than to flavor it with chocolate 💖

Let’s Talk Mental Health

Let’s Talk Mental Health Each month I attend an open stage event at a local café and read a few of my inspirations. It is fun to participate and to enjoy the talents of others who take to the stage to perform. May is youth mental health awareness month. It took me some time to write something I felt would be relevant and meaningful. I felt what I had written was too long to share in one post, so I have broken it down into three parts. Part 1: Starting the Conversation Discussions about mental health are more acceptable today but it was not always the case. As a young person I vaguely knew about death by suicide, nervous breakdowns, postpartum depression, grief and different mental health conditions such as bi-polar disorder. If they were talked about at all it was in hushed tones and not in front of children. Things are changing. ... Read Full Story >>

Helping

On our walk home last night from our friends’ home we were passing a house on their block & saw a frail elderly woman using a cane about to walk down her steps to put a bag of recyclables at her curb for collection. ♻️

I asked her if we could do that for her & she smiled wide & gratefully accepted our offer. It felt good to be able to do that for her. ❤️

Expressing Joy and Love

I will visit friend tomorrow at the Chinese restaurant and tell them that I love them. New or old friend is a story of where I've been. So many stories. Finished trimming rhubarb. Wildflowers bushel are ready for reseeding. Father is happy. 🐇. 🐇. 🐇. June 9th is Strawberry Rhubarb pie 🥧 day. Mother will enjoy harvest sweetness.

🌱 Healing Garden Gives 🙏

A visit to our local hospital’s healing garden gave me an opportunity to utilize the prayer tags in the prayer hut that the CRAFTERNOON Kindness Crew made a few months ago to replenish the dwindling tags. One for MisterM - he’s doing better, but it’s slow going, and another for my brother in law - who is currently in hospital, but hopefully will return home in time to celebrate his daughter’s wedding this weekend. A tag posted on the wall caught my attention. It read, “For my grandma, that she has a peaceful death.” 🙏 I put my hand, palm side down over the tag, and said a prayer for the author and for the grandma 💕 . 🪴 Displayed a can of laminated “pot stickers” - made from daily tear off calendar pages, for folks to take and stick in flower pots, garden, etc…The CK Crew made them last week and it’s ... Read Full Story >>

Kindness Gives Joy

After almost two years of being away from my kindspring home, I decided to start a new kind of journey on June 1.

But kindness came one day earlier for me as one of our janitress at the office informed me that she will be transfered to another office starting tomorrow.

It felt good to give her some cash token and a note to tell her how grateful I am for her dedicated service to us.

Indeed, to give is to receive more in terms of joy and fulfillment. May this post be my personal reminder to be equally committed and faithful to living a life of kindness, one kind act at a time.

So help me God!

63+ Gifts

♡

Well, I lost track again. I'm doing okay though and should reach my goal before next March 29th (my 64th birthday). So many people here on KS inspired me to do this and it's been great fun.

This past week:

• Created a vid for a friend.
  Sent a small donation to three light-filled places doing great work (one is our NRHugs in HI).
  Interviewed JohnnyO today for his memoir. He'll be joining us for the group.
  Created another "you rock" graphic for my mom. (Attached.)
  Had a nice conversation with my neighbor about my little garden (tomatoes and herbs so far). He's going to grow beans and we're going to share.
  Wrote a snail mail letter to a friend and sent three others.

Kindness Trip To New Jersey

Kindness trip to New Jersey

On May 22, I consulted with my family doctor in New York. Gave some quote cards. He gave me a ride to his house in New Jersey. I am grateful to him.

My divine sister picked me up and accommodated me in their house for four days and prepared lunch and dinner for me. I am grateful to her family. I gave books, Date-nuts sweets. Handkerchiefs, fancy paper bags made by Utthan, quote cards, and Mindy's Origami Peace Dove quote cards. Talked about positive thinking. Adjusted sewing machine to run smoothly. 

I met other friends and family. 

I returned to New York on May 26

I am grateful to Sri Sathya Sai Baba for giving me these opportunities of kindness and guiding and helping me in this regard

Daily Joys

I’ve been finding daily joy thanks to Mindy’s catnip mousies. Ever since we lost our little feral friend Doofus recently, we are gifted to watch her feral friends playing with the catnip mousies we put in the backyard…they roll around, leap in the air…it’s like watching a cat ballet 🐈 🩰 🐈‍⬛

I think of Doofus & hold the good memories of our sits there in the sunshine with her, feeling her loving presence & have good cries. It’s all part of the grieving process…

Grateful for our feral friends ❤️

Thank you Mindy for your generous sharings 💕


🖼 Artist Credit : S Hee

Cross-stitch

I used to regularly do counted cross stitch but after I had my daughter there was less time to do it and I moved on to other crafts. However, recently I found a kit to stitch an owl so I've been doing a little each day so I don't tire myself so much. I'm making it for my daughter as we share a love of owls.

This morning while shopping, I joined a queue and then the store opened up another till. There was a couple behind me and I could see they hadn't as much in there trolley as I did so I told them to go across.

Easy Kindness….

How was I able to share some kindness yesterday…..always chances present themselves ❤️

Told someone it was a pleasure dealing with them and that they were very kind & a nice person….a big warm smile & a thank you resulted. Lovely man ❤️

Shared laughs & smiles with one of our favorite servers where we enjoyed a lovely mid-day meal. 😊

Smiled & shared hellos with several back & forth trips a mom & then dad who were escorting their little ones to the washroom, as they passed our table a few times. 😊