It has been a busy time full of small kindnesses and many moments of ordinary joy. As I know we share what we do to inspire each other and create momentum for more random and planned acts of kindness, I am sorry for not writing in more often lately with my own little tales. Have just been caught up in life!
Off the top of my head, some memories lately of "little things":
*Went to the library and inserted SMILE cards with a 50 pence piece taped to it and a YOU MATTER card into a selection of juvenile books. It was a school day and no one was around so I took my chance.
*Put the YOU MATTER cards in popular adult books and well-used magazines. Also added a few of the SMILE cards with the 50 pence piece. Often the people who come to read the magazines and newspapers in the library are the homeless, unemployed, elders and needy around us. So I hope someone is happy for it. It will buy a coffee from the machine in the library.
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*Continued to try and finish my scrapbook for my 1-year-old grandson. It has lots of original drawings in it, a host of photos and collages, telling a bit about his history with old-time photos and blurbs, and each page of the album is decorated by hand. It's taken a long time to make this, combing through endless magazines for just the right word, letter, or image, drawing and painting, asking various relatives for old photos, etc and am almost there which makes it hard for me to complete now!!! I know at 1-year-old he won't appreciate it much, but it's meant as a life memento. My husband said for sure that means it will get ripped up within a week, ha ha. Seriously, my daughter will look after it.
*That memory scrapbook for my beloved grandson is meant as a kindness to him, but it is also definitely a kindness to me! This is because my daughter and her new family moved to Australia from the UK, where he is from and has a wonderful extended family. She seems very happy there so I am happy, but even with frequent phone calls, photo/video exchanges, Skype, WhatsApp, emails, FB, texts, etc I still miss them. Working on this almost every day since they left 8 months or so ago helps me feel closer and connected.
*Have made a point to contact others of my political beliefs and supported them and tried to help bring us together.
*Wrote to the lady and her employer featured in the Homelessness article I recently discussed here. They said if I could start a fund for her, or the like, people would no doubt help, and I have just been waiting for return letters/calls. So far weeks have passed and no replies, so will try again.
*Agreed to sponsor my daughter and her friend in a walk they are doing for Syrian refugees. If you are interested I can give you her FB message, or somehow post it here. She is a very caring young woman and so is one of her best friends. They were tired of hearing about children starving to death and other atrocities against mere humans, and wanted to do SOMETHING. So they are walking this week 100-miles around Melbourne. With 1-year-old in tow!!! I think they have raised more than half of their hoped for sum.
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*Wrote a long, intimate letter to a slightly remote sister and the result is we are closer now, if not perfectly, a whole lot more than before. Also wrote to a brother who keeps his distance and was friendly and more personal and the result was a nice message in return.
*Was kind to myself and bought a big jar to start my Gratitude Jar which I learned about on KS. I am excited to do this in the coming year.
*Found the email address of a friend who is often secretly very troubled (her FB image does not jive with her self as she presents it to me). She had not returned my last emails or FB messages for the last six months or so and I was thinking maybe we were not going to be able to friends, when I decided to write a brief but friendly message to see what happened. She wrote back a long missive telling of mental illness troubles and lack of will to live. I have been able to reestablish contact with her and am so relieved!!!
There are other things, nothing out of this world. Just trying to live as best I can with kindness as a way of life.
Love and light to all.
Off the top of my head, some memories lately of "little things":
*Went to the library and inserted SMILE cards with a 50 pence piece taped to it and a YOU MATTER card into a selection of juvenile books. It was a school day and no one was around so I took my chance.
*Put the YOU MATTER cards in popular adult books and well-used magazines. Also added a few of the SMILE cards with the 50 pence piece. Often the people who come to read the magazines and newspapers in the library are the homeless, unemployed, elders and needy around us. So I hope someone is happy for it. It will buy a coffee from the machine in the library.
*Continued to try and finish my scrapbook for my 1-year-old grandson. It has lots of original drawings in it, a host of photos and collages, telling a bit about his history with old-time photos and blurbs, and each page of the album is decorated by hand. It's taken a long time to make this, combing through endless magazines for just the right word, letter, or image, drawing and painting, asking various relatives for old photos, etc and am almost there which makes it hard for me to complete now!!! I know at 1-year-old he won't appreciate it much, but it's meant as a life memento. My husband said for sure that means it will get ripped up within a week, ha ha. Seriously, my daughter will look after it.*That memory scrapbook for my beloved grandson is meant as a kindness to him, but it is also definitely a kindness to me! This is because my daughter and her new family moved to Australia from the UK, where he is from and has a wonderful extended family. She seems very happy there so I am happy, but even with frequent phone calls, photo/video exchanges, Skype, WhatsApp, emails, FB, texts, etc I still miss them. Working on this almost every day since they left 8 months or so ago helps me feel closer and connected.
*Have made a point to contact others of my political beliefs and supported them and tried to help bring us together.
*Wrote to the lady and her employer featured in the Homelessness article I recently discussed here. They said if I could start a fund for her, or the like, people would no doubt help, and I have just been waiting for return letters/calls. So far weeks have passed and no replies, so will try again.
*Agreed to sponsor my daughter and her friend in a walk they are doing for Syrian refugees. If you are interested I can give you her FB message, or somehow post it here. She is a very caring young woman and so is one of her best friends. They were tired of hearing about children starving to death and other atrocities against mere humans, and wanted to do SOMETHING. So they are walking this week 100-miles around Melbourne. With 1-year-old in tow!!! I think they have raised more than half of their hoped for sum.
*Wrote a long, intimate letter to a slightly remote sister and the result is we are closer now, if not perfectly, a whole lot more than before. Also wrote to a brother who keeps his distance and was friendly and more personal and the result was a nice message in return.*Was kind to myself and bought a big jar to start my Gratitude Jar which I learned about on KS. I am excited to do this in the coming year.
*Found the email address of a friend who is often secretly very troubled (her FB image does not jive with her self as she presents it to me). She had not returned my last emails or FB messages for the last six months or so and I was thinking maybe we were not going to be able to friends, when I decided to write a brief but friendly message to see what happened. She wrote back a long missive telling of mental illness troubles and lack of will to live. I have been able to reestablish contact with her and am so relieved!!!
There are other things, nothing out of this world. Just trying to live as best I can with kindness as a way of life.
Love and light to all.
913 Reads
- Posted by healingtree
- Jan 25, 2017
- Comments (6)
Readers Comments
leoladyc728 wrote: sounds like you have displayed a lot of kindness. Thank you
AndiCas wrote: I don't even know where to start in responding to that list! Thankyou so much for sharing. What a hugely inspirational list.
mnc_91 wrote: Thank you so much for sharing such a bunch of kindness :-)
mindyjourney wrote: Wow! amazing the kindness we are planting when we take a moment to step back and watch the grow <3. Thank you for being lovely and KIND you! Appreciate your update :)).
splain wrote: I think you are doing a lot of good, kind, wonderful things. It seems to be a way of life for you.
smrobinson_21 wrote: Wow. Certainly a lot going on. I love the idea of you matter cards and 50p pieces in library books, that should certainly bring a smile to someone's face when they find those. Also good that you have managed to re-connect with a friend who has mental health problems and that they have felt able to open up to you, as having mental health problems can be very lonely and isolating.
