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Coffee is Out of My Comfort Zone

Earlier today, there were some men removing my the backyard fence. I was surprised to see them working even though it was cold and raining.  As I stood in my warm home watching them, I heard a family member say to me, "Nicole, go out there and offer them a coffee or a warm drink."  I didn't want to, and thus made up a bunch of excuses. Underneath the excuses, I was afraid. I had never met them and was scared to start up a conversation and face possible dismissal or rejection. Going out to them was completely out of my comfort zone...which is exactly why I did it.  I asked myself, 'Nicole, are you a kind person? Or are you only kind when it's easy and makes you feel comfortable?' I knew this would be good for me to grow as an individual, so I went out there.  Guess what? They said no. ... Read Full Story >>

At The Bus Stop

I was waiting for a bus at the stop and I noticed one of the drivers got off and was walking around while waiting for its time to depart. The man looked tired and maybe a little sad, I imagine in his mid 60s. He looked at me and smiled gently so I smiled back. He stopped straight away and started talking. He told me all about his job and how difficult it is for him at his age. I listened and offered gentle encouragement. When the time was up he said he was very grateful for our conversation and we wished each other a good day. I hope I helped him feel better and have a better rest of the day. He definitely helped me. I felt grateful for my job, for his kind smile and for the opportunity to 'be there for him' for a brief moment.

Hard Lesson From An Unlikely Teacher

     In what now seems like many incarnations ago I was waiting in Bonn Square, Oxford, England, for my wife to return from shopping.  We had an agreement that she would go to the shops while I would browse the wonderful bookstores in the centre of Oxford.  Then at 5 o’clock we’d meet in Bonn Square for a coffee – an arrangement that allowed us to do what we both liked doing best.       On this particular day she was 25 minutes late.  I was beginning to shiver in the crisp November air.  I scanned the square for something to take my mind off my frustration.  My attention was drawn to three people sitting on a bench about 50 feet away.  Two men and a woman.  The men looked as though they were far gone into an alcoholic haze.  Probably, I thought, the three of them were from the homeless person’s ... Read Full Story >>

The Promise Proclamation

While we often tell others we love, such as our family, friends, and relatives, those comforting thoughts to warm up their hearts inside, we forget that this gift of friendship and affection we give to others is something we can give ourselves too. Remind yourself that as you help others, you are also allowed to help yourself along the way. Here's a gift to give yourself as you get started. Make the following promise proclamations to yourself today: 1. I will become friends with myself and realize that it is a  worthwile friendship just as are the friendsips I have with others.   2. I will look for sunshine in everything, so optimism becomes my reality not an elusive dream. 3.I will create thoughts of the best in mind, give my best to meet my goals, and expect only the best results, so that the best is manifested in my life.  4. I will understand ... Read Full Story >>

We All Need Someone Who Understands

 A farmer had some puppies he needed to sell. He painted a sign advertising the pups and set about Nailing it to a post on the edge of his yard. As he was driving the last nail into the post, he Felt a tug on his overalls. He looked down into the Eyes of a little boy.  Mister," he said, "I want to buy one of your puppies."  "Well," said the farmer, as he rubbed the sweat off the back of his neck, "these puppies come from fine parents and cost a good deal of money."  The boy dropped his head for a moment. Then reaching deep into his pocket, he pulled out a handful of change and held it up to the farmer. "I've got thirty-nine cents. Is that enough to take a look?" "Sure," said the farmer.  And with that he let out a whistle,"Here,Dolly!" he called. Out from the doghouse and down the ... Read Full Story >>

Finding The Courage To Wipe The Windows

Here I was, as any other morning, in front of the bread store.  Today, the door was opened. Outside it was cold enough.  I stepped inside and I saw some pieces of cloth on the stairs. The door's window was wet - at a closer look I saw it was sprayed with window cleaning liquid. I stopped. I saw there were two other ladies in the store, waiting to be served.  I looked again at the few pieces of cloth, hanging there, exactly in front of me. I thought about Help Others stories. Suddenly I felt I had the courage to pick one up and wipe the window. "Don't worry about it" I heard. "I'll do it later. There is plenty of time" and she laughed, blushing all over.  I realized I didn't do it for her. Some force inside pushed me to do it just to show me that I can humble myself, ... Read Full Story >>

Thoughts on Simple Living

On this eve of the 21-Day Simple Living challenge I'm sitting in reflection of what the term simple means to me. Over the past two+ years I've taken step after step, some conscious others not at all, towards simplifying my life. As such I've stepped into a much slower, much more mindful day-to-day existence although it's often I step back into the busy and faster pace that I once knew. I believe Duane shared on a few Awakin calls ago that in simplifying we have the opportunity to realize what really matters most to us. That also has shown truth for me, as I stepped into forming Wild Dream Walks, an organization that uses walking as a tool to connect community and lead people down the path of what matters to them most. This alone has given me the opportunity to serve from my heart for many people. This year I created ... Read Full Story >>

Giving Away Flowers is Addictive

I love to surprise people. I like to start things with a "bang" and finish them with another "bang" usually related with acts of kindness.

This year on my last meeting as a chair of the PTA, I offered each member of the team a rose and a card.

Though they know me by now I guess I can still surprise them with unusual surprises from time to time.

The other day I gave a chocolate and a smile card to a charity worker, who seemed quite puzzled ...

Today I gave a rose and a card to a lady that I know who has been working very hard.

Giving flowers is lovely, the only danger is that it is highly addictive.

;-)

A Kindness "Chain Reaction" in a Traffic Jam

My 17 year old granddaughter is an accomplished flutist.  She recently gave a farewell recital to her friends and family at her high school in Chicago, which was followed by a homemade buffet supper.  After the recital, she had a 3 hour drive home with her mother and sister.  They decided to load up the car with the left-over food from the recital, which included barbequed sandwiches and cream puffs.  They packed the food on plates which they placed in zip-lock bags. On the drive back, they stopped to give the zip-lock bags to homeless people along the way.  At one junction, there was a traffic jam even though the lights were green.  My granddaughter decided to run through the cars to take a plate to a person on the side walk.  As she ran back, some of the other cars started to honk their horns. The lights had already turned red, so my daughter ... Read Full Story >>

Answering Aggression with Kindness and Compassion

 I have been working in a Pupil Referral Center in Croydon UK.  This is a place where pupils go when they have been expelled from school.  Their behaviour is extremely challenging.  

I met a lady who works there and found that when she is faced with a stream of verbal abuse she always responds with kindness; when she is faced with aggression she responds with love and when she is faced with screams and tantrums she responds with calmness and compassion.  

I feel privileged to have met her.  I will never forget her gentleness and determination to help those children.

A Note in my Lunch Box

At the beginning of this week I was touched to tears, when I opened my lunch box at work. Somehow I was feeling not so good that day, it was hard for me to get up in the morning, and so on.

When I opened my lunch box at work, I saw a little piece of paper. The piece of paper was a note from my mom saying that she loves me and wished me a blessed day!

My heart was so touched, I am so thankful that God gave me a mother that notices when I am a little down. The next day I had another note! My mom made a difference in my day and I will never forget this special touch of kindness!

Paying It Forward On The Ski Slopes

My husband and I were excited to take a day off from work to ski Winter Park and then continue on to Grand Lake to snowshoe for the rest of our anniversary weekend this past winter.  We arrived at Winter Park with discount coupon in hand, but to my surprise, the clerk pushed it back my way stating that it was not valid on this particular day.  The discount was to buy two tickets for $50 each.  Being very disappointed I asked how much a regular ticket would cost, and she said $94!  Needless to say, I was very unhappy. As I waited for my husband to return, the universe was lining me up for some wonderful kindness.  A mother and her daughter approached me asking if we needed tickets.  They were on a band trip and found out that the daughter could not ski due to an injury.  As a ... Read Full Story >>

Southerly Winds Sweep In Smile Cards

Yesterday, I gave out my first Smile Cards!

There was a very strong, gusty southerly wind in town. While driving, I noticed some empty trash cans in the street. I stopped at the first one I encountered, placed it upside-down beside the curb (hoping it would not blow into the street again) and placed a Smile Card under it.

Then I drove on.

Talk about anonymous-- the recipient probably had no idea what a Smile Card is, who put it there, or even why it was there! I did this twice more on my way home from town, and it felt great! :)

Festival Sweets For Strangers

This Diwali, I planned to celebrate the festival by doing some kind acts. I emailed few colleagues to join me however all were busy with festival celebration. I also had enough work and a meeting got scheduled on the Diwali day itself hence i had to visit office. I was thinking it won't be possible but then I got an idea of distributing sweets right near office. Looked like a good idea but I had not made any full fledged plans. When I reached office I already started feeling bad for security and kitchen staff who were working on holiday, so they got tagged. Around lunch time, I wanted to go and purchase sweets when I thought of buying pizza for lunch, along with giving sweets to pizza hut workers, who were also at work on holiday. This was pretty exciting as young boys n girls work at pizza hut and i was ... Read Full Story >>

Low Income Rich

I am a low-income senior, but I have enough food, water, medicines, human contact,enough access to grass and trees and views of the sky.

I have enough clothes, books, music, paper and pens. I have enough access to information via the internet. I have enough to amuse, entertain, inform, astonish, challenge, heal, and sustain my soul.

I have a lifetime of experience and wisdom hard won from life lessons. I have enough  memories and enough hopes and visions to keep me moving into the future.

Best of all, I have enough to keep giving away. I am rich, and for all this I am grateful.

Green Smiles

I remember that particular Monday morning well. Having signed up for a new website dedicated to random kindness (KindSpring.org), I suddenly received an email which stated that my idea had won. My idea had... won? Wait, were they talking about my idea for 'Green Smiles'? Green Smiles had always seemed more like a wishful daydream, some sort of fantasy which was inspired by the lack of green in my neighborhood. I wanted to make the neighborhood more 'green' in the broadest sense of the word. For example, I wanted to plant pretty flowers and even herbs in the small patches near the trees. Perhaps even transform the larger and often messy plots of 'green' near the parking lots. Put up insect-hotels so that children (and adults too of course ;)) would be able to enjoy the sight of a pretty butterfly more often. Or look in wonder at at a buzzing ... Read Full Story >>

Parking Lot Samaritan

After running errands with my daughter one day, I walked back to the car reminiscing with her about the nice people we'd had the pleasure to interact with. As I pulled my car keys from my coat pocket, my daughter pointed out, "Something just flew under the car."  Remembering that I had placed my debit card and ID in my pocket so I could access them easily in the checkout line, I knew exactly what had flown under our car. I crouched down to see them. My debit card and ID were wedged behind my tire, almost out of sight. Another woman in the parking lot saw my struggle, walked over to me, and asked if she could help. Without even waiting for me to answer, she said, "I see them!" Then, she got down on her knees and fished my cards from behind the tire of my car. As she handed them to me ... Read Full Story >>

Balloon On A Kindness Journey

I finally did it! I am so happy! 

I've had this idea for a while but I didn't have the guts to actually go through with it - until today.

I bought 10 helium filled balloons, drew a smiley face and wrote the date they were released on each them. I had set up another e-mail account for the project. I wrote the e-mail address on Smile Card and attached them to the balloons.

Then I took them outside and released them into the air. I hope to get some awesome stories back in return.

A Snack That Turned Into Balloons

Often we do little acts of kindness and can’t really know what happens next… the people who benefit from the act return to their lives and we return to ours!  Our paths may never cross again.  But that’s not the case when a member of HelpOthers does a kind act to another member of HelOthers!  Here we can chart the ripples as we guide the kindness on its way!  Here’s one such story. You may have read Aurelia’s post about making Chex Mix for her family, or Bluebell’s post about receiving a snack from a friend in the US.  Well I sent some Karmabucks to Aurelia to find out more about her amazing snack and she offered to send some to me if I was based in the US.  Unfortunately I’m not, I live in the UK but luck would have it that I was off to America for a company event last ... Read Full Story >>

My Mother Taught Me a Lesson I Needed to Learn

My mom is a volunteer in a public hospital. She and her friends sell things to obtain money for medicines or supplies that may be needed by the hospital. They also bring dinner every Monday to the people waiting for their relatives outside the hospital. One Monday, I stayed after school to make up a class. When my mom picked me up, she asked me to go to the hospital with her and help with dinner. "At least, this one time" she said. At first, I didn't want to, but in the end she convinced me and I went; obviously unhappily. After we arrived and took everything out of the car, we set up the table and started serving dinner. The more food we gave, the more people would come. Looking at people's faces, especially those from children, was amazing! The way they brightened up reflected their gratefulness for receiving this meal,  and ... Read Full Story >>