Stories of Kindness from Around the World

When I take my daily walk, I say good morning to each person I pass on the trail. And when a bicycler comes up from behind and says, 'On your left', I always say thank you. Kindness becomes a habit."

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"When my daughter and I traveled home on Christmas Day one year, we made a small gesture that still makes me smile. We had wrapped Pez dispensers as a small gift for her 8 cousins. When my sister-in-law gave them all large gifts, we decided not to mention our little stocking stuffers. Instead, on the way back home, we gave one to each toll-worker we encountered. "Merry Christmas. Sorry you had to work today!" we said. We got smiles and waves and some even leaned out of their booths to watch us leave. That Christmas was a strange one, but those smiles and waves made it a holiday. Its not the size of the gift that matters, but size of the heart."
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"Today, I hugged a stranger who had memorized my name from the only other time we met across a smile. Today, I smiled at everyone I saw and greeted everyone with the same love I shower them in everyday. Today, I held the door open for around ten minutes and when passing throughout my day, would push the door button to open the door for anyone passing through. Today, I agreed to swapping rooms with a suite-mate so my roommate wouldn't have to move and so she could be with her friends. Today, I saw a cricket and it made me laugh with its sweet sounds. Today, I went to a meeting with my EOF counselor and finally made sense of my past..."
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"Today, I listened to my 6 year old son read aloud. This wasn't uncommon, but today, after he had finished and was in the middle of another task, I simply told him, "I love to hear your voice when you read aloud." He stopped in the middle of what he was doing, looked me straight in the eye, and an enormous smile erupted on his face. He then came over to me, wrapped his arms around my waist and while giving me a hug to rival all hugs, gently whispered, "I love to hear you too Mom.
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"I picked up some potted mums and my daughter and I ding-dong-ditched and put the flowers on the doorstep of a neighbor we do not know - but appears to be going through chemo. We loved doing it and hopefully made someone smile in the process! Thank you kindness challenge!" 
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"About a month ago, one morning, I awoke to find a note on my door. It read, "Don't worry. You were born awesome, not perfect." I was going through a bit of a transition at that time and those words meant, and still do mean, a tremendous amount to me on so many levels. To this day, I have been unable to find out who posted that for me. So, today, I thought I'd return the favor. Stocked with little notes reading, "Be yourself," "You belong," "You're special," and "You are loved," I drove around various neighborhoods, posting them on random doors. I trust that the Universe had me place them exactly where they needed to be."
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"My nine year old daughter has walked to school almost every day of her school life and each morning the same crossing guard Ms. Leslie is there to help us safely cross the street. She and my daughter have a special ritual of hugging. My daughter runs to her , they hug, lock eyes and Ms. Leslie twirls her around once with the Stop sign in one hand. Once a neighbor driving her 3 children to school told me they feel lucky when they get the chance to witness this. Any morning fighting in the car that is going on stops and they all share in seeing the joy shared between these two.

This morning after watching them and having crossed the street to the other side. I said "That looked like so much fun can I have a hug too?" Ms. Leslie smiled and we embraced a full 5 seconds. I could feel our skin touching neck to neck and sense her heart beat. We didn't lock eyes but we did allow our humanness to connect. I got a little teary eyed when she looked at me and said "Thank you so much. It gets hard out here some days when drivers can be so rude." As we walked away my daughter wrapped an arm around me, connected with my eyes and just smiled, full of love, as if to say "Mom, now you know." And I knew then with my heart the power of a little hug. I've been basking in the warmth of that hug through an hour of thick morning traffic that I was able to experience with no inner struggle. Thank you Ms. Leslie and my little one. I encourage you to notice an opportunity to share a little heart hugging energy today."
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"I chalked the sidewalk down my block, in front of every driveway, for runners, bikers, and walkers to see as they go by." 



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I got out of hospital recently so haven't had a coffee in weeks. Yesterday, I went to one of my favourite coffee shops with my partner, stood in line for a while and finally got to order our coffees. However, when I went to pay, the till broke down (computer error) and had to be rebooted. While I was quite happy to wait, the manager offered me the coffees for free explaining that I had already waited long enough. I thanked him for his kindness and joined my partner. I told her what had happened. Before we finished, she went out and bought two bouquets of flowers and gave them to two single mothers sitting across the cafe. It made their day. Kindness flows from one to another
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"For the first day of the 21 day challenge I practiced kindness in a very small way. I left fruits and biscuits on my colleague's desks with smile cards, which I had printed. The funny thing was that some colleagues wondered where did their little gifts came from. This small gesture and their reactions did make me feel happy."