Search Results for 'popular' (3612 matches)

Penguin Journal

I know this girl who was having a hard time, and had mentioned that she wanted to get a journal to record stuff in. So, knowing that she loved penguins, I bought a notebook and penguin stickers to decorate it. It made her smile, and she got the smile card!

Disney Delight

Got some gas?

I was pumping gas today at a Rotten Robbie and a construction-worker type of a guy walked near me and asked, "Mind filling a gallon?" Well, that is a new one for me! Just when he asked, my tank was full. I took his small container, filled it and gave it back to him. He said, "Thanks, man" and walked to his old pickup.

I then turned, hooked up the pump to the machine and in the display it asked, "Receipt?" and I pressed "No". Suddenly I started laughing. I always say yes when asked if I want a receipt because I use it for tax purposes (I am a consultant and I can tax deduct my official use of my car). But today I said no for no reason - and I realized that the last gallon makes the whole transaction anonymous!

Lessons from an old woman on the bus

Last night on my way back from work, I was caught again in a crowded bus where you don't even have space to put your legs on the floor at times. Every person's attention is to the next seat which gets vacant.

It is a like a tight musical chair situation. An old lady with heavy luggage got in this bus. And after some time, somebody offered her a seat. A generous act.

What I saw after this was a display of an unconditional love. This lady kept offering to share her seat with whoever was standing next to her. The seat is meant for 2 people.

An old lady was showing me how easy it is to be kind and generous and what unconditional love is. She was passing her kindness to everyone of us without a smile card in her hand. I felt fortunate to be witnessing this standing behind her. She didn't even knew that she was doing a random act of kindness.

God bless her!

Soldier's Dinner

My mom just got back from a teacher's convention in Nashville Tennessee, and they went to a restaurant where there was this soldier eating dinner all alone. She decided to pay for his meal but when they went to do it, someone had already done it! The waiter said he couldn't believe how many people were willing to pay for a complete stranger's dinner.

Surprise in the Mail

I have been a fill-in personal care attendant for a woman with Multiple Sclerosis. At one point, I was wanting to create a group similar to this but not online. I asked her what would be an act of kindness to her that would make her smile. She said a check in the mail. My offline group never came together but I never forgot that wish. I knew it was just a matter of waiting until I got enough spare change to send something that would be enough to make her smile. About six months ago, enough time for her to forget she made that wish, I sent a blank money order to her with a card that said, "Be one with yourself and all good things will come to you." Inside, I pasted a typed phrase, "You are the awakened heart." I sent it anonymously. I counted the hours when she would arrive home from work and tried to imagine the smile on her face and her getting a lift that lasts for a good while.

Lifting the spirit of a teen saddened by death

I have a friend whose mother passed away in September. The entire family is grieving from her passing as she was truly a loving woman. I found out from my friend that her 15-year-old daughter was taking it harder than everyone else in the family because she and her grandmother had a very special relationship. The grandmother had always sent the young girl little care packages in the mail every now and then, even though they lived in the same city. The packages contained little things, maybe some nail polish or a make up item such as lip gloss and she always added a note to her granddaughter to let her know how special she was and how proud she was of her. It wasn't always a gift - sometimes it was just a note to let her know she was thinking of her. The grandmother would also pick up her granddaughter and take her on special ... Read Full Story >>

Russian Smile Heroes

This is a story of other people's random kindness to me. I was driving on the freeway when I saw a sign warning drivers that chains would be required to cross the mountain pass up ahead.  I had never driven with chains before and didn't own any, so I pulled off the freeway and bought a set.  It took quite some time to get the chains on, and I had to drive very slowly for the next 15 miles as I was going through the mountains.  The moment I got to a spot where it was no longer snowing, but raining instead, I pulled over and took the chains off so I could resume driving at a more normal speed. After about 30 minutes of driving, I suddenly came upon another snowy, icy patch of road.  I reduced my speed, but then as I came over a hill, I lost control of ... Read Full Story >>

The Hug Game

Just this pass week I was finding it kind of hard to pass smile cards around school - with finals coming I found myslef stuck inside studying. So one day when I was sick of studying, I stopped and saw that one of my freinds looked like she needed a hug.

I went up to her and gave her a big hug. Just then, something clicked in my mind. If my friend needed a hug, then somebody else might need a hug too. So I thought of my smile cards. While giving her a hug,  I said these words:
"Tag - you've just been hugged. When you see somebody that needs a hug, give them one and say what I just said."

Courage and Composure

Remaining calm and level-headed in moments of crisis is a challenge -- particularly when you're only nine years old. But when second-grader Jimmy Steven's mother fell unconscious behind the driving wheel, he knew just what to do.

Jumping onto his mother's lap he steered the car to the side of the road, put it in park and dialed 911. For the next eleven minutes, he calmly directed paramedics to the car where he and his younger siblings were waiting. Jimmy's courage and composure saved his mother's life, and his bravery earned him a medal from the local police and other honors from the town.

Read more at http://www.dfw.com/mld/dfw/news/state/16130243.htm?source=rss&channel=dfw_state

Helping a friend through a tough time

Recently my friend lost her father. My family is helping their family  to cope with his loss. We are making dinner for them once/twice a month and just taking the time to 'hang out' with them.

Praying for Clear Skies

Last week, the festival of Pongal was being celebrated in South India.

On one particular day of the festival, families are supposed to have a fun day out - it is the tradition. Nowadays, it is mostly those who are not all that wealthy and can't afford to go out every weekend who follow this tradition. So on this day there will be crowds from even remote rural areas, including people who live in real poverty, on beaches, in movie theatres, parks and zoos in the cities.

On this day, in the morning I spotted the vegetable vendor wheeling eight happy kids who were blowing balloons and having a lot of fun to the park. I mentioned this casually in the evening to someone  else. He said that he had seen them too, and in fact had spent some time in the morning praying that it wouldn't rain. He had seen dark clouds in the morning and didn't want the children to have their fun spoilt.

I know this sounds like something small but I don't know too many people who would care about unknown people in the same way.

It finally never rained and I saw the children being wheeled back, tired and happy.

Being thankful for the simple things

I have a very simple story this time. I just decided to take a break from my hectic life and be present/fully engaged with my infant son and husband.  Usually, I am multi-tasking work/mommyhood/wife/household stuff.  And I lost site of my priorities, my family. 

Today, I really stopped and absorbed myself as my 9 month old tried sitting in a crawling position or cried about something or just wanted to sleep (without mommy running off for a work engagement or thinking about that next thing that had to be done).  And I made amends with my husband for being crabby and losing my temper. And just tried to be grateful for a change. Sometimes I find I forget to be kind to my own family.  Isn't this ironic, on a site devoted to kindness to others.

An Amazing Tip At A Coffee Shop

Today I was at our local coffee shop (NOT Starbucks, I might add :] ) and I saw something truly incredible.

The woman in front of me in line was having a friendly conversation with the person working at the shop. All of the sudden, out of the clear blue, this woman decided to hand the clerk a 100 dollar bill as a tip for being so friendly! The woman was very plain looking- her clothes looked worn but clean and she did not appear at all wealthy.

I think this is a terrific example for us to follow. Obviously, not everyone can afford to hand away a hundred dollars everwhere, but we can do the same sort of thing on a smaller scale. Leave generous tips at restaurants. Toss your extra change in the tip jar-- honestly, saving that 26 cents will not benefit you. You can even make a child's day by dropping a nickel or a quarter here and there and everywhere! (make sure it's heads up!)

I'm Not The Only One

i think everyone tries to make some sense of this world.  no matter who you are, i believe that you have a part in this world.  everyone really does play a part in this world. it dosen't matter if you are the president, a king, or a soul living in poverty; we are all human and we all matter. i believe that if we can all use our heads and hearts as one, and we stop being so into ourselves we really can make a difference. i know people will say, that will never happen, nothing you say can change people, it will always be the same. but "never doubt that a small group of people can't change the world, indeed, it's the only thing that ever has." so i am challenging anyone who wants to, brighten someone's day, say hello to somone you don't normally talk to.  simple acts of ... Read Full Story >>

If I Could Give Her Just A Part of Me...

The Internet connection at home was set-up for two months already. My family back home has a Web cam so I see them regularly, say twice a month, via the Web cam, but not my little sister. Whenever my mother, father, and little brother are on the chatroom, my little sister is busily doing something in her own room, or anywhere around the house. It's always been like that for the past two months. But yesterday, it was different. As I was chatting with mom, I saw my sister on the background. So I was surprised to see her there - sitting beside my mother, wearing her hair short! In fact, I was told by my older sister that little sister was the one who asked mom to cut her hair short. I was feeling so happy to see my little sister on the Web cam. I immediately captured that ... Read Full Story >>

Three Bucks In A Garage

This may seem a small thing, but to me, at the time, it meant everything. I had been downtown with a job counselor who was helping me choose an interview outfit.  Part of this program, that helps people with disabilities get jobs, was a clothing voucher.  So my counselor and I headed to a store, parked in the garage and got our parking stickers stamped with the time we thought we needed. Well, you put 2 women picking out clothes with a strict budget and that too, during a sale ... and what you get is "overtime".  My counselor left just before me, so when I went to leave, sure enough, I had overstayed the time allowed by the stamped ticket, and owed $3.00. I had no cash with me, as I had forgotten to grab some change before leaving, and was otherwise broke and overdrawn at the bank. So while three dollar ... Read Full Story >>

Would You Help A Little Lost Robot?

In New York, we are very occupied with getting from one place to another.  On the way, imagine you encounter a tiny, cardboard skinned robot making its own way down the streets of New York City, asking for help.  Would you help this lost little robot?  Tweenbots are human-dependent robots that navigate the city with the help of pedestrians they encounter. Rolling at a constant speed, in a straight line, Tweenbots have a destination displayed on a flag, and rely on people they meet to read this flag and to aim them in the right direction to reach their goal. Given their extreme vulnerability and the possibility that no one would be interested in helping a lost little robot, I initially conceived the Tweenbots as disposable creatures which were more likely to struggle and die in the city than to reach their destination. I set out on the first test with a video ... Read Full Story >>

Passing on Good Fortune

Suppose you only have two items to pay for, but the person in front of you has a shopping cart full of groceries and you are hoping they will let you go before them, since only one cashier's lane is open?  I usually luck out when it happens to me, and yes, people have usually paid it forward, and I have received the good fortune of being told to go ahead of a full cart as well. But this day was different!  This time, I was getting ready to pay for 2 items, and the woman BEHIND me had a full shopping cart of food, but I happenned to  notice a woman behind HER only had one item. Once again, only one cashier line was available, and it was obvious the woman with the one item was anxious and disappointed that she was behind someone with a full cart of food!   The woman ... Read Full Story >>

A Good Samaritan Goes The Extra Mile

For Brian Tapp, not even having a horror day could overcome his bowerbird instincts. Driving along Alison Road in Randwick last month, the 59-year-old florist was contemplating failure: evicted from his Clovelly shopfront that morning, he was transferring some effects to his base in Kingsford. As he passed the entrance to Randwick Racecourse, Mr Tapp noticed something on the road. He pulled over. It was 10.15am. His day was about to change. Adam Morison's day was about to change too, but he didn't know it yet. If anyone in eastern Sydney was feeling worse than Mr Tapp it was Mr Morison, who had arrived at Sydney Airport at 10am for a noon flight to Bali. As he got out of his car, he went into a panic: he did not have his wallet, his passport, his money or his itinerary. "I was gutted," he said. "The surfing holiday was over ... Read Full Story >>