Search Results for 'popular' (3612 matches)

You Are So Beautiful To Me

I was attending a Fundraiser Gala Celebration for a school. Now, I've recently lost weight and felt good about how I looked in my outfit ... which I hadn't felt in years!

Once I got to the event, many people where telling me how wonderful I looked.  To be honest, it felt great to hear that because I worked really hard to look and feel better.

Then, all of a sudden, I was thinking how I wished someone had given nice compliments last year when I was heavier. I did look nice then too, I had a nice outfit, pretty hair and carried myself nicely...

So I started looking around the room for people I knew that were maybe not what was considered "thin" and I went up to them and told them how nice they looked and that I loved their outfits ... they were true comments and came from my heart. 

Oh, you should have seen their faces light up because I took time to notice them and let them know they are just as pretty as anyone else there! I think it'll make us closer because they know I care.

We should all look for something nice to say to one another to lift one's spirits.

A Hotel Manager Creates Some Magic

About nine years ago I worked at a large downtown hotel. Since we were connected to a mall and a public parking garage, anyone could just pretty much walk into the hotel area. We started having a big problem with homeless youth living in our stairwells at night. The stairwells went largely unused because of their hidden nature and the fact that once inside, you could only go down and exit to the street, all the doors locked behind you and you could not travel between levels and exit back into the hotel. As night manager, I ended up being the one to evict these youth, night after night after night. One night there were seven homeless young people and a puppy, in a total of three locations. I hated to do it on rainy nights, but it was my job, and some guests felt threatened when encountering tattooed and pierced youth ... Read Full Story >>

My Best Birthday Ever

After being inspired by a video of a young Pakistani man celebrating his 22nd birthday with 22 random acts of kindness, I mentioned to my girlfriend Tamara that I'd like to do the same for my upcoming 55th birthday in December. Well, she grabbed onto the idea and made it happen. We wore goofy reindeer antlers to make people smile, placed cheery stickers on the shirts of children, cleaned up a park, passed out delicious Mexican hot chocolate to those in the park--many of whom appeared homeless, offered bottled water and compassionate listening in the shopping mall, played rock/scissors/papers with a bored 10 year old boy who was waiting for his sisters to finish shopping, and more. The highlight for me occurred at the end of the day when we were passing out carnation flowers in a retirement home after their dinner. At first I found myself questioning my motives and how it would be received.  It turned ... Read Full Story >>

You Helped Me

I know this site is primarily for sharing stories of how we help others, however I have to take this time to say thank you. 

All of you and your stories have not only helped with my depression but it has given me more faith in others. I am in the process of changing careers to the non-for-profit sector, especially focused on children's homes in our local area. I never would have made this change had you not all shown me the world is still a place full of good people.

Hopefully I get this job and can begin to share your stories with the children who have lost their faith in humanity, the way I had before I found this site.  Wish me luck on the job and again from the bottom of my heart I thank those who started this website and all those that are members.

You have truly made an amazing difference in my life and my future. God bless you ALL!

36 Acts of Kindness

A few days ago I celebrated my 36th birthday. I decided to do 36 anonymous acts of kindness that day. So I bought 36 flowers and put it on car's windows- with a note that says: "Someone you do not know chose to make you happy.

Please give this flower to someone you love. Happy weekend and safe drive". Actually I wanted to print smile cards, but because we are on holidays -the shops were closed.

So I handwritten 36 cards. I did it with my little daughter and it really made my birthday- a celebration ! - 


 

Accepting a Blessing and Passing It On

Last Sunday, a woman told me that she felt led to give me twenty dollars.  She wanted me to use the money for whatever I needed.  I tried not to take it, but she insisted and so I took it and thanked her.  I didn't need the money, but I knew there must be a reason for her giving it to me. The next day, Monday, I went to work.  A different woman was walking by the store I worked at.  She was limping, and didn't look to be very well.  I knew her and called out, asking her how she was doing. She responded with her sad situation.  Her husband had died recently, she had to quit her job because of her health, and on top of that, she wasn't drawing her disability benefits as yet.  I told her the story about the $20, and asked her if she would ... Read Full Story >>

An Unforgettable Fishing Experience

Several years ago, I worked for a trucking outfit as a driver. It was my habit to go in on Saturday and spend a couple hours maintaining my truck. As I was under the truck greasing it, I noticed the owner's elderly father making his way over to his grandson's truck next to mine.  The old man was in his high eighties, had been an avid fisherman all his life, and had come out to ask the kid to take him fishing after work. The grandson told him all about how much he would love to do that, but, he just couldn't that day due to prior commitments. The old man accepted the answer and hobbled off to the house. A few minutes later, the father came out and asked his son what the old man had wanted. After telling the story, the kid ended it with telling his dad, ... Read Full Story >>

Smile Cards are a 'Super Cool' Thing

Hello my kind friends! Every so often I like to post adventures of one of my little kindness kids. Little Rachel (6 years old now!) is a kind hearted little girl who often accompanies me on my kindness adventures. Well, this week she is a 'Top Cat' in her 1st grade class. It is her special week at school and she gets to have lunch with the principal and teacher. She is very excited. But although I am proud of her, that is not why. Part of her being Top Cat is that she has to complete a big poster about herself. She colors it, answers the questions about herself on it, etc. There is one section that asks her to name 3 supercool things about herself. Well bless her heart, one of her supercool things that she wrote is that she gets to hand out Smile Cards! :) We taped a Smile Cards underneath where she ... Read Full Story >>

Lost & Found: Two Rings

After working out one day, in the locker room, I came across a gorgeous wedding ring studded with many diamonds and a ruby ring.  I could tell they were very expensive, and by the color, the gold looked to be 24 carat. I looked around but there was no one in the gym or in the locker room.  So I took the rings to our work Lost & Found in the Security department upstairs.  After you fill out the tag, the items are kept for at least 30 days. I told the security guard that I did not want my name mentioned, as I wanted it to be a random act of kindness. I did not want the person to feel they needed to thank me or compensate me.  And I was pretty sure that the rings would be claimed! Over the course of the day, I forgot all about turning in the rings but ... Read Full Story >>

Taken By Surprise By A Course In Miracles

Arriving in a new city last Thursday, I had the strangest first week of graduate school. I fell and broke my leg within 48 hours of arriving there! I was really amazed by the kindness shown by my new roommmate, someone who I had only just met. "We are family now", she said when she found me lying in my room with a swollen leg, unable to move, in a strange city with no family except across three oceans. She took me to the student health center by cab to get my leg examined. The cab driver was so nice and said to me how lucky I was to have a friend like that.  After that, my roommate didn't stop helping me - she made me amazing meals and brought them to and made me comfortable despite my insistence that I could do things on my own. When I protested, "I really like helping people", she said , "I believe ... Read Full Story >>

A Warm Embrace And Presence

It was a usual day at the hospital. I was running around doing what I needed to get done for my patients. Then I stopped in my tracks because I could feel my cell phone vibrating in my pocket. I almost always keep my phone on. In the event of an emergency my family and friends can that way get in touch with me. It was an emergency. There was a death in my family. I couldn't move. I couldn't think. I was excused early from work that day, but came home to an empty apartment and didn't know what to do next. I cried. I didn't know if I wanted to be alone or phone my close friend. I didn't know if I should have bothered my friend. Death is a sensitive subject for some people. Different people handle it in different ways.  What does one say? What does one do? After deliberating for a ... Read Full Story >>

My Gas Station Story

One rainy evening I went to fill up at the gas station. A pre-teen boy approached my car with a thick hoodie pulled around his face. He asked me for money to help him and his mother stay in their hotel for an additional week. He stated that if they did not come up with $25 they would be evicted that same evening. Having worked in social services before, and being a little skeptical, I asked how come his mother hadn't sought out social services for assistance. The boy said that they needed to remain in their hotel for one more week until his grandmother, who lived out of town, could take them in. I gave the boy what I had - $5. He thanked me and continued to wander the parking lot asking for help. I got my gas and drove away. A separate time some weeks before, a boy asked ... Read Full Story >>

Growing Seeds in Silence

Sometimes you read a story that just takes root in your heart. Many stories on the helpothers.org website have been like that for me: "I Wish You Enough" by BrightEyes and "An Unforgettable Fishing Experience" by Mike Delyria to name just two. Well this story I'm about to share with you has been growing in the heart of many people on Cape Ann, where I live. It is the story of Jude, a young deaf man with green thumbs and a big heart who recently opened a plant store in our community called The Silent Seed. I first heard about him from my friend Nana who had noticed the new store during one of her walks and was so inspired by the owner that she felt called to draw the whole neighborhood's attention to his work. A few days later, my friend Loretta who lives in a totally different part of ... Read Full Story >>

"Just A Smile, Sister!"

I was walking along a sidewalk in the city. A bit of a distance away I could see a woman walking along with a big signboard around her neck. I was naturally curious about what it said, so I deliberately slowed my pace so I could see.

Love and Inspiration from Japan

Below are the some of the heart warming anecdotes that I've witnessed and heard from others during the aftermath of the earthquake in Japan last year...  In the supermarket, where items of all the shelves fell, people were picking up things so neatly together, and then quietly standing in line to buy food. Instead of creating panic and buying as much as needed, they bought as little as they needed.  I was proud to be a Japanese.   When I was walking home, for 4 hours, there was a lady holding a sign that said, "Please use our toilet."  They were opening their house for people to go to the restroom. It was hard not to tear up, when I saw the warmth of people.   At Disneyland, they were giving out candies. High school girls were taking so many so I was thinking, "What???"  But then the next minute, they ran to the children ... Read Full Story >>

One of a Thousand Stories to Tell

Hello, my name is David G. Nadeau and I am from Monroe, Michigan, hometown of General Armstrong Custer. I am a paid-on-call Firefighter for Monroe Township Fire Department and I was at Ground Zero for one week starting September 12, 2001. Some of my hundred or so pictures from Ground Zero have been published in EMS magazines. Newspaper reporters from Cooperstown, New York and Lexington, Kentucky call me wanting to publish this story. That is because someone from the family of the business card I found at Ground Zero told the reporters this story – a story about a business card which is just one of a thousand stories to tell. I arrived at Ground Zero on September 12, 2001 with another Firefighter. After several hours of working at the front of a bucket brigade on Friday, September 14 – just one of many bucket brigades -- there came an opening ... Read Full Story >>

Using Kindness to Hush the Noise Downstairs

  Several years ago my young daughter and I moved into the upstairs apartment where we now live. While my loving, wonderful friends helped me move in, the downstairs neighbors began to complain about the noise. That did not bode well for living above them. After all, how can anyone move in  quietly?   As I suspected, the complaints continued on a daily basis -- well after that initial day. We walked "too loudly" down the stairs, we flushed the toilet too much ... Their child had problems with my child and they complained to me as well.   I soon learned that they had driven out the last few families who had lived above them and that each situation had erupted into feuds and yelling. So, I had the information I needed and I tried to think of the situation from a spiritual point of view. I realized that I could fight with my ... Read Full Story >>

One Garbage Bag at a Time

I live in an apartment building where there are several elderly people and other tenants that are on a low or fixed income. There is a older gentleman neighbor of mine that is always willing to help out and go out of his way to help anyone in need. A few weeks ago, I was taking a large amount of trash out to the dumpster. This neighbor saw me and stopped to help me as he was taking out his own trash. When we got to the dumpster, he dumped his trash out of the bag. However, he kept his trash bag. "Why don't you throw the trash bag away?" I asked him. He replied that he has been using the same trash bag for a couple of months because he really didn't have money to spare to buy new ones. This immediately made me tear up. I thought about how we can ... Read Full Story >>

My First Experience With Smile Cards

Well.....I just couldnt WAIT to try out my smile cards. Last week I set out on my nightly outing -- to a meeting, and then to spend some time with my best friend. I told him I wanted to use my smile cards. First stop, the Dollar Store. I bought 2 nice candle jars with thoughtful things written on them. Next up, 7 Eleven. We parked and looked for someone to give a candle and card to. A woman had just gotten gas and was walking into the store. I hurriedly got out and ran over to her car, put the candle and card on top where she couldn't miss it, and ran back to my truck and waited. When she came out, she saw it, looked around, and acted like she was afraid to touch it! Another man getting ... Read Full Story >>

Rock N Roll Never Dies

After 11 years of being "lucky to live Hawaii" my wife and I are moving to Florida to take care of my Mother.  It's a real treat for my wife, who is a local girl who has never been to the mainland.  

To minimize expenses we decided to mail the essentials from Hawaii to Florida -- the cheapest solution we could come up with. This also meant parting with things that we have held onto.  Things like my cassette tape collection,  along with my vinyl record collection. I'm guessing that I probably had about 300+ cassette tapes, mostly 60-70's rock and around 100 or so vinyl LP's, many bootlegs and a lot of great cover art.

I called our local radio station and told my friend DC, the morning jock, that I'd like to donate them to a listener who would appreciate them and give them a good home. He put it on the air, said that the first caller would get the cassettes and within minutes, a listener named "Spike" was over joyed to get them!

The following day DC gave away my vinyl collection and I'm glad they will have a home where they will be listened to.