Search Results for 'popular' (3615 matches)

An Surprise Gift

Last week I went to a different grocery store than usual, just to check it out.  The person in front of me at the checkout was pregnant and purchasing a couple of containers of milk.  No big deal, she would be done quickly and I could be on my way.  Her method of payment was a WIC card and it kept telling her that it wasn't working.  A manager came over and told her to come to a different register, maybe this one was the problem.  After I checked out, I noticed she was still there, trying to get her card to work.  It was obvious that the young woman was getting anxious about the purchase so I offered to pay for her purchase.  She was shocked that I had even offered and very humbly accepted.  She thanked me and I went on my way with a smile from her. Everyone needs ... Read Full Story >>

Kindness Ripples In Front of My Eyes

I was going to post about the wonderful time we had "clowning" at the hospital today, but that will wait a day or two because I had a truly magical day full of unexpected kindness. A few weeks ago while wearing my magical hat and returning from clowning, a gentleman struck up a conversation and now we've become friends. He's a homeopathic doctor and asked me to come to the hospital where he practices to meet the chief doctor of the place to talk about possibly clowning at other hospitals. It ends up they started talking about various Muslim charitable organizations who they think would be interested in the Planet Earthlings project and Acting Kindly game. I felt so lucky to be able to interact with them and confirm we have so much in common. Then on the way home on the bus, I gave up my seat to an older woman. ... Read Full Story >>

Valentine's Day Wisdom

Here's a poem that you might enjoy reading:

Coffee With A Professor

A group of alumni, highly established in their careers, got together to visit their old university professor. Conversation soon turned into complaints about stress in work and life. Offering his guests coffee, the professor went to the kitchen and returned with a large pot of coffee and an assortment of cups - porcelain, plastic, glass, crystal, some plain looking, some expensive, some exquisite -- telling them to help themselves to the coffee. When all the students had a cup of coffee in hand, the professor said: "If you noticed, all the nice looking expensive cups were taken up, leaving behind the plain and cheap ones.  While it is but normal for you to want only the best for yourselves, that is the source of your problems and stress.  The cup itself doesn't add to the quality to the coffee and in some cases even hides what we drink and yet you consciously ... Read Full Story >>

Sunday Night Kindness Deliveries

Last night was date night with my little girl. She wanted to conduct another Kindness "Special Ops" Mission for our evening. That afternoon, we made up some kindness envelopes full of a smile cards, a few dollars and a special note. She decorated the outside of the envelopes with smiley stickers and the words "Open me, I’m a gift for you!" She wanted to go to the mall and secretly place envelopes around to spread some Christmas smiles. When we dropped our first one and walked off without being seen, the look on my daughter's face was priceless. She was beaming and had a joyful kick in her step. I love how she loves our kindness missions! For the next one, we sat down at a table for a minute, ready to scurry off and leave our envelope behind. The heavy sea of people around us made it challenging. My daughter is ... Read Full Story >>

It Was A Rainy Night In New Orleans

It was a rainy night in New Orleans At a bus station in the town, I watched a young girl weeping As her baggage was taken down. It seems she'd lost her ticket Changing buses in the night. She begged them not to leave her there With no sign of help in sight. The bus driver had a face of stone And his heart was surely the same. "Losing your ticket is like losing cash money," He said, and left her in the rain. Then an old Indian man stood up And blocked the driver's way And would not let him pass before He said what he had to say. "How can you leave that girl out there? Have you not had a moment of fear? You know she had a ticket. You can't just leave her here. You can't put her out in a city Where she doesn't have a friend. You will meet your schedule, But she might meet her end." The driver showed no sign That he'd heard or even cared About the ... Read Full Story >>

A Lesson From My Childhood

I wanted to share a story from a time in my childhood when I was living with my step mother.  She worked all day so I was responsible for doing the household chores and taking care of my younger half brother. During that time in our life, my dad was not present much, but I didn’t mind, my step mother took great care of my little brother and I in any way that she could. I loved her and always wished she could spend more time with us but she worked Monday through Saturday between the hours of 8:00 am and 10:00 pm.   At that time my little brother was about 4 years old and he missed her so much all the time. He would always wait up for her but would fall asleep many times before she returned and when she left for work he would be asleep. One day, ... Read Full Story >>

An Uneven Exchange Late-night

I worked as a waitress for a few months. I was not a great waitress and I worked in a restaurant that served mostly older people who, bless them, haven't learned that 10% is no longer a tip waitresses can live from--let alone a college student packing on 20 hours!

One night, when I was still working two hours after my shift was supposed to finish, all I wanted was for my last table to clear out so I could clean and go home.  My last customer caught me on her way out and asked if I had change for a twenty.  I dug through my apron and turned out my night's earnings... a measly $14.

She smiled at me and said, "That's enough."

My eyes welled up as I made the uneven exchange. "Thank you," I whispered.

I heard her little boy ask why she did that and she explained that I'd had a hard night and she just wanted to help me out.  Not only did her kindness touch my hurried, hassled life, but she also taught her son an important lesson that night.

I don't know her name, but I will always remember her.

Forgiveness and Reconciliation

"When I was a boy of 14, my father was so ignorant I could hardly stand to have the old man around. But when I got to be 21, I was astonished at how much the old man had learned in 7 years. ' Mark Twain My 23 year old daughter and I embody the female version of the above quote. When I left her father about 12 years ago she chose to stay with him. He was very acrimonious about the break up and unfortunately stoked her anger fire. She literally had nothing to do with me for about 5 years, no contact, no presents to me, no overnight stays. It broke my heart. Now she works near my home. She has often slept on the settee in my home and I so love this. Last Mother's Day she sent me the card below,  it says: To Mum Hope you have a nice Mother's Day Thanks ... Read Full Story >>

Kindness Is A Love Song

My husband's entire life is kindness. If I made a list of all he's done and is day-by-day in the 16 years I've known him, it would take me days to type. He's not a praying kind of guy but his life is a prayer.

He doesn't use flowery words, but his language of love is compassion, hard work, and just so many thoughtful things he does. He just handed me a big green shake.

Earlier he cleaned out the fridge joking the entire time about various, er, science projects. I'm constantly astonished that this gorgeous guy loves me enough to stick around so long. Trust has never been easy for me, but he has shown me why trust is the best path, and kindness is a love song.

Her Kindness Saved My Girlfriend's Life

Kindness returned to me. This happened last Saturday, at 6:00 pm. I was having a picnic day with my girlfriend. We both like to ride her motorcycle (she likes that I drive) and that day we drove to the nearest park. We bought some coffees and smoothies, then we were enjoying our food. Within a few hours, sky was menacing and looked ready to drop a heavy rain. We packed everything again and we were ready to go. My girlfriend, who was sitting on a bench, suddenly was very still and she couldn't talk to me. She didn't move. Her eyes were rolling and she was about to loose consciousness. I held her in my arms and asked if she wanted to rest. She didn't answer and only said "Sorry..." It started to rain and I didn't know what to do. She was fighting to stay alert but her skin was pale and her ... Read Full Story >>

Hugs On Prescription

My wife never ceases to amaze me.

She and I went out for lunch earlier. We went to a new Italian restaurant down by the harbourside. It's set up in such a way that the upper floor is a kind of balcony where you can sit and look out over the yachts to the sea and the islands beyond.

You can also look down and see the diners on the ground floor. That's when Julie pointed an elderly lady out to me.

This woman had been a patient at a health centre Julie worked at a while back. She suffered from chronic arthritis and is almost always in pain from it. It was Julie's job at each appointment to find out just how bad the pain was and adjust the medication to suit.

Near the end of each appointment the woman would inevitable apologise for being such a moan. She hated burdening Julie like this, but her husband was doing all he could to look after her and she never felt it was fair to moan to him.

There and then Julie would prescribe a course of hugs and administer the first dose before the lady left.

Isn't that just the best medicine?

Picking Up the Tab for Breakfast

After church this Sunday morning, my daughter and I went to a local restaurant for late breakfast.. An older woman was seated next to us at an adjoining booth. What drew my attention is that when she came in and seated herself , she walked straight toward us with a smile, as though she was going to sit with us and knew us, but then turned to her table and took a seat by herself. I thought to myself that I should have invited her to sit with us. When we were done with our food, my daughter and I left our booth (the woman was still seated at her table) and whispered to the waitress to put the woman's breakfast on our tab.   The waitress seemed surprised at what I was doing for a stranger. So I told her of a card I had received the previous day from a complete stranger, ... Read Full Story >>

The Road To Acts Of Kindness

More than a week ago I decided to do something that I called "A Smile Card a Day Makes the World a Better Place".  I've been doing an act of kindness every single day and giving away Smile Cards with it. Yesterday on my way back home from school I stopped at a restaurant that I always go to. It was almost 10pm and that's when the close. I ordered some takeway food and sat and waited for it to be ready. The girl that took my order was mopping the floor and singing and I have to say she had a very beautiful voice. I started talking to her and told her how beautiful her voice was and I gave her a Smile Card. She loved how the card says 'Smile' on it because another customer calls her "Smiley". I then told her the rules of the Smile Card and she ... Read Full Story >>

12 Year Old Feeding The Homeless with '3 B's"

This Kid Has Helping the Homeless in the Bag! At 12-years old, Braeden Mannering is already well on his way to running an empire! A 2013 win of Delaware’s Healthy Lunchtime Challenge brought Braeden to the White House, where Michelle Obama asked the children at the event to think about how they could pay the experience forward. A few days later, on the drive back home, Braeden saw a homeless man in the rain. He had his parents stop so that he could give the man a bag of snacks. Braeden knew at that moment that this was how he wanted to pay it forward. Since that day in July, 2013, Braeden has handed out over 8,000 bags to the homeless through his organization Brae’s Brown Bags, also known as 3B. These bags vary in contents, and include food, toiletries, and even a book for the kids’ bag. In addition to packing ... Read Full Story >>

The Sweetness of Siblings

My sister and I are forever borrowing and giving money back to each other whenever either of us is in need.  Just last week, she asked me to pick up her medicine at the pharmacy and she said she would subsequently pay me back soon... Her response suggested to me that she was struggling financially. So, I thought I would step it up and instead of doing just one favor for her, I decided to throw in a few more while I was out shopping. I realized all of her furry living creatures would be delighted to receive some yummy treats so I picked up edible biscuits, chewable toys, and bird seeds for all of her respective pets (which included the dog, the kitty, and the new parrakeet). I got her a new sketch book  to encourage her to explore her budding artistic talent more deeply.  I found her favorite cream filled cadbury chocolate egg at the candy store and tucked that along with $40 into one of her pill bottles, so that she could discover the sweet surprise later. A kindness offer was to made her ... Read Full Story >>

Karmically Rich

I just can't get over the fact that there really are so many caring people in this world....Sometimes we wake up and think about all of the world's tragedies and begin to believe we are doomed as a planet. I don't even like watching the news in the morning because the deaths and car accidents and flames that flash across the screen in loud red and orange colors are the first visual images of my day that set a somber tone to my newly awakened eyes. To shift my perspective on the world, what I do instead is, clutch the remote, and push the "off" button so that version of what the world we live in today is shut off.  Ready to reset my day, I make my way to the HelpOthers site on my computer, with my steaming cup of coffee in my hand. Here, I discover a world that doesn't appear on television screens. I find wonderful stories that uplift ... Read Full Story >>

My Nephew's Birthday Adventure In Paying It Forward

I want to say thanks to all of you for your special notes and ideas, after I sent my request for 'gifting acts of kindness ideas' for my nephew's birthday last month. I was excited to hear from some of you with suggestions. Pancho suggested that I give him my attention -- as the greatest gift one human being can give another -- yes! Nipun helped out by sharing his own story, and got me thinking further about how I could do a kindness tag, Idaho style. I gave that kid some super-duper hugs, not to mention every bit of attention I could muster, and a good dose of kindness stories, to boot. There is a long story with great sidenotes that goes with the birthday adventure story, but the short story is as follows: I gave my nephew twenty bucks for his birthday, with the condition that he use it to do something kind for someone ... Read Full Story >>

There is Life in Just a Smile

It was only a sunny smile,

And little it cost in the giving,

But like morning light,

it scattered the night,

And made the day worth living.

-Unknown

Thank you for all of your smiles as they have made my days worth living. 

Tears And Cheers

I am a high school teacher in a small school in a very rural area.  My personal "goal" each year is to greet each student in the hallway by their name at least twice every week.  Graduation is coming up so people are becoming very sentimental. 

Today a senior student zoomed over to me in the hall and handed me an envelope.  In it was a Thank You note which read, in part, "Thank you for talking to me when no else would. Thank you for saying hello to me in the hall.  No one else says hello to me. Thank you for visiting with me about what books I've read and how my cats are."  This student is a shy person and not too socially fluent.  School is tough for her because "there are so many people in one building". 

Her note meant so much to me and of course, I started crying.  Inside I also cheered because she took the time and energy to "connect" which is what I hope all students will be able to do.  I love teaching and am so lucky to be able to go to work at a job I love.  What a lovely gift I received from this student.