"When you carry out acts of kindness you get a wonderful feeling inside. It is as though something inside your body responds and says, "YES! THIS is how I ought to feel." ~Harold Kushner
The recipe for kindness is quite simple indeed! Simply follow these instructions:
First, start off by always treating others in a manner you would want to be treated
Add in a large amount of positive attitude
Stir in a daily dose of smiles
Sprinkle over a dash of creativity
Mix well
Top off with a hug or two (when and if possible)
It is said that acts of kindness and feelings of gratitude are usually found within those moments that some consider small, little or insignificant. Yet when we shine our heart lights on them and combine all these "small, little or insignificant acts", they really end up meaning so much to us!
IT ALL STARTS AT HOME! Begin sharing kindness at home. Start by first examining your actions at home. Are you being unhelpful, lazy or selfish at home? If you are, you can change that! Think of how those in your family may be feeling. Even though you are a family... you each have your own personal, individual lives, experiences and stress. Is anyone having a bad day? Is anyone currently under stress? Can you do anything to alleviate that stress?
SUPRISE SOMEONE! Unexpectedly do the dishes, do a load of laundry or take out the trash. Help clean up the house, someone's room or the yard. Take them out for a day or night of fun or relaxation. Doing something unexpected or spontaneous in place of the "routine" in our daily lives brings LIFE and a fresh feeling of newness into our hum-drum, day-to-day lives. So start by doing something for those you live with. Remember how much you care for and love each other... even if they drive you NUTS! (Drops of Kindness Trackable Item Opportunity!)
Pay for a coffe or a meal for the person behind you at restaurants such as: Dunkin Donuts®, McDonalds®, Wendys®, or Star Bucks® (Drops of Kindness Trackable Item Opportunity!)
Certainly not all the time, but every so often throughout the year, offer your trade or services to a stranger or customer (especially if you know they may be struggling) without having to pay.
Plow someone's driveway, offer a massage on-the-house, a meal or sandwich, a haircut or manicure, a doctor's visit, a car wash, mow a lawn, rake some leaves, give an oil change, change a tire. Whatever it is that you can offer. Something that you know doesn't really "cost" you much... except your time, effort and service. The wonderful warm feeling you will receive INSIDE because you know deep within at that moment you did a kind deed for some else... and that can be payment enough if you choose to let it be!
Ask them to pay it forward to someone else in whatever way they can when they have an opportunity to do so. Whatever that trade or service may be that they can provide to someone else in kindness. (Drops of Kindness Trackable Item Opportunity!)
Share with a specific co-worker or all co-workers special treats, baked items, flowers or other unique kindness items! (Drops of Kindness Trackable Item Opportunity!)
Help lighten a co-worker's load without being asked. The lessened workload will come as a welcomed surprise! We are positive someone will be grateful! (Drops of Kindness Trackable Item Opportunity!)
Clean up areas for others. Such as: a room in your home, a work lunch room, a classroom, a restaurant table, or other area. (Drops of Kindness Trackable Item Opportunity!)
Visit the often lonely and elderly in nursing homes. Bring a pet, flowers, singing children, balloons, or anything that will produce smiles and laughter.
Sign-up for your favorite volunteer opportunity that interests you.
Buy a meal or a bag of groceries for someone who is homeless or someone whom you know is struggling to put food on the table for their family. (Drops of Kindness Trackable Item Opportunity!)
Pay someone a compliment or cause someone to smile at least once per day everyday.
Keep tabs on your elderly, disabled or lonely neighbors. Help them by mowing or raking their lawn, taking out trash, shoveling snow, home improvements, sharing meals or treats, giving them a ride somewhere, playing a game with them or simply just being an ear to lend or a shoulder to lean on.
In the rain, invite or share your umbrella with someone who does not have one. (Drops of Kindness Trackable Item Opportunity!)
Stop and take the time to tell your children how much you love them. Spend time with them doing something fun. All the happy memories you give them will be worth more and outlast anything you could ever buy them. Make certain days of the week a time to do special, fun or family activities.
Get in the habit of doing "out-of-the-ordinary" acts of love or kindness for your spouse. These acts will help reignite the love and put some spark back into your relationship. We tend to forget that to keep a marriage strong... takes a touch of work and a little imagination.
Write a thank you note, leave an anonymous bouquet of flowers, or give a secret gift to someone who has helped, iinfluenced or inspired you in a positive way. Let them know how much their kindness means to you. (Drops of Kindness Trackable Item Opportunity!)
Drive with kindness. Let someone else have that parking spot, let someone out in front of you (especially if you notice in your rear-view mirror that the traffic is heavy), let someone merge onto the highway during rush hour, and wait patiently during driving delays. (You never know... it may be God's way of saving you from a tragic accident!) If you are coming up on a RED light and notice someone in the opposite lane trying to cross yours to get to the street or drive way on the other side, let them go. Where are you going anyway... but to a red light. Let someone who is walking cross the street. Always respond with a wave and a smile.
In the summer, offer your mail man or delivery man a cold drink or frozen snack. During the hot summer months this may come as a very much welcomed surprise. In the winter, offer a hot chocolate, coffee or warm baked item. (Drops of Kindness Trackable Item Opportunity!)
Leave an extra big tip for your waitress or bartender. Many do not understand that these individuals work for $2.00 - $3.00 per hour and depend greatly on their tips. (Especially when they are single, working moms.) Leave a note on the back of the bill letting them know how great their service and personality were to you. (Drops of Kindness Trackable Item Opportunity!)
In the grocery store, if you notice someone behind you with much less to purchase than you, let that person go ahead of you. (Drops of Kindness Trackable Item Opportunity!)
Share your smile generously with others and strangers. Laugh out loud... it is contagious and will help others to smile and laugh.
When taking pictures at parties, get duplicates when you have them developed and give the duplicates to those in the photo. (Drops of Kindness Trackable Item Opportunity!)
Donate books, paper, crayons, or other crafty items to a local school or day care. (Drops of Kindness Trackable Item Opportunity!)
Brighten someones email with a funny or loving e-card online.
Keep your neighborhood looking its best. The streets around your home are your living area too. Pick up the trash on the streets of your neighborhood. Organize a neighborhood sping or fall clean-up day.
Refrain from judging others or harrassing someone who is different or because of their past wrong doings. Remember... Live is tough on everyone... even if they don't show it. We all go through tough times... hard times... sad times... angry times... fun times... and stupid times. Practice forgiveness and be a role-model for kindness. Others will look up to you.
Do not speak of others in a negative way behind their back or try to spread rumors about others. Many times rumors are spread that are not even true. If you hear a rumor about someone, grow a backbone and ask that person if they know if they know if it is 100% true. If they don't know... ask the person the rumor is about. Get the answer from the horse's mouth! Do to others what you would want done to you. Be in the habit of speaking positive about others.
Have a special talent. Volunteer your time to teach others your talent. Do not let that special talent die with you. Share it with others so that it will live on long after you are gone. You will be long remembered through your shared talent and that is one way to immortality. (Drops of Kindness Trackable Item Opportunity!)
Put a loving note inside your loved one's lunch bag. The note is sure to bring a smile and warm thoughts. (Drops of Kindness Trackable Item Opportunity!)
Create arts, crafts or needlework to be donated to a non-profit organization that can be used, given or auctioned away. (Drops of Kindness Trackable Item Opportunity!)
Anytime you see someone struggling with heavy packages, trying to open a door, fixing something, or any other struggle... offer a helping hand. (Drops of Kindness Trackable Item Opportunity!)
Look people in the eye and smile when saying thank you, have a nice day, or a simple hello. It lets them know your care about them as an individual person... a human being.
Pay a small toll or fee for the person behind you. Such as a bridge toll, highway toll or other entrance fee. (Drops of Kindness Trackable Item Opportunity!)
Give a lottery ticket to a stranger. (Drops of Kindness Trackable Item Opportunity!)
Make an anonymous donation to a charity or church that is actively making a difference in your community. (Drops of Kindness Trackable Item Opportunity!)
Adopt a homeless pet or call an animal shelter to find out what donations are needed.
Collect treats, food, toys, cat litter, and blankets or towels for the shelter. (Drops of Kindness Trackable Item Opportunity!)
Contact homeless shelters, women's shelters or AIDS housing and ask if there are any supplies or items that are needed that you can donate. (Drops of Kindness Trackable Item Opportunity!)
We certainly hear enough bad news every day. Get in the habit of spreading the usually unheard "good news".
Offer to babysit for someone whom you know does not get out muuch or who cannot afford to pay for babysitting. (Drops of Kindness Trackable Item Opportunity!)
Donate your talent. For example: Hair stylists may offer free hair cuts to those hospitalized or in nursing homes. Massage and Reiki therapists often donate some time with those hospitalized or on hospice care.
Don't follow the crowd. Listen to your consciousness. Stick up for the things that you know are good and right. Be a whistle blower when you see or know that something is wrong.... or corruption is going on. If it is something being done to someone... that YOU would not want done to you... then it is wrong. Being silent is not the right thing to do and will only help to make the problem much bigger in the long run.
Employers can boost company morale in the work place by treating employees with notes of thanks, sponsored lunches, and awards such as leaving work an hour early, coming in an hour late, or a half or full paid day off.
Leave a kind note or flower tucked under someones wiper blade on their car. (Drops of Kindness Trackable Item Opportunity!)
Leave your change in the vending machine for the next person. (Drops of Kindness Trackable Item Opportunity!)
Leave a store coupon that you will not use in front of that item at any store for someone else to use. (Drops of Kindness Trackable Item Opportunity!)
Renew an old friendship by sending a letter, card or small gift. Let them know how much you have missed them. (Drops of Kindness Trackable Item Opportunity!)
At work or in certain circumstances.... does one always have to go by the rules. (Weren't rules made to be broken?) Let your HEART be your guide in certain situations once and awhile. Listen to that small still voice that we feel and hear inside... yet often bury and ignore due to ego, reputations, rules and laws.
Spend more quality time with friends and family. Have potluck dinners during the week. Everyone brings one item. Dinners done, time was well-spent with family and friends, and clean up is a breeze.
When you are washing your car windows at the gas station, offer to also clean the car windows of the person next to you. (Drops of Kindness Trackable Item Opportunity!)
In the winter, when you are done cleaning the snow off your car, clean the snow off the the car that is parked next to yours in the parking lot. (Drops of Kindness Trackable Item Opportunity!)
Send flowers or some other unique surprise delivery to a friend or co-worker who is down in the dumps or having a tough week. (Drops of Kindness Trackable Item Opportunity!)
If you pick up your newspaper at the end of your driveway - pick up your elderly neighbors paper from them and drop it off right on their doorstep.
When waiting in the deli line, if you notice there is a mom or dad with restless children that has been waiting for awhile, give them your lower number ticket. We are sure they would be grateful. (Drops of Kindness Trackable Item Opportunity!)
Do you know someone who is fighting a long-term illness? Send them a gift basket of teas, crackers, magazines, and other non-perishable items - along with an unsigned get well card that reads "Just to brighten your day!".
Send a cheerful card to a nursing home, cancer center or childrens hospital. Mail it to the general address with a sticky note that says to please give the card to someone who needs a smile.
Do you know of a great idea for an Act of Kindness?
Contact us, let us know and we will add it to our list as being submitted by you.
PRACTICE GRATITUDE.There is sooo much to be thankful for in life... yet so many of us don't take the time to notice. Yet when we are told or asked, such as in a workshop or class, to really think about and write down as many things as we can think of to be grateful for in our day-to-day lives... we often come up with hundreds.
At that moment... we are simply asked to look and see our life and situations in a different shade of light. We are asked to shine a bright light into our hearts and seek out the most important aspects of ourselves, our life and those around us on a human learning and loving level.
Yet normally... everyday... most of us don't even think about being grateful.
However, we should. And WE NEED TO... now more than ever!
On a daily basis... we should practice learning how to change and refocus our light... better known as our thoughts, attention and intentions. Shift our consciousness and learn how to look and see our situations differently - in a more positive light.
Try to see or understand the other side of a situation... another way of looking at something... instead our own usual "negative" points of view.
Try to see and try to understand another person's point of view. Look through their mind, heart, eyes and life experiences.
Try to see the lessons in your life more clearly. Life is a classroom! Do you want to graduate... or stay back?
Try to see the meaning or messages behind what's happening in your life or a particular situation.
Try to see the lessons of love. Try to see the importance of that person or situation on the level of love.
Try to see where you can feel gratitude for a particular person, item, moment or situation. (Even in a bad situation!) We cannot learn without the bad... or the good. BOTH are needed for life's lessons!
It could be as simple as the smell of coffee... the birds singing outside the window... the purr of a cat.... a beautiful sunset... a favorite song on the radio... the smile or hug of a loved one... or an "I love you" from a child. There is so much to be grateful for in life... if we open our inner eyes to see them.
On the flip side, it could be harsh actions or words said to you. But deep inside... if you were to be totally HONEST with yourself... you learned something from it and you can feel that. There are times when we know we are in the wrong. Yet for so many, our EGO gets in the way and keeps telling us to fight on... your're right and everyone else is wrong.... stand your ground... you're not going to look bad or weak! (Even if and when we are wrong.)
You begin to realize that although a negative situation may not have felt good at the time... it was important for you to hear and go through that negative process because it opened your awareness to something that you needed to be aware of. (NO PAIN - NO GAIN!) Although you may not have liked it... you should still be grateful and thankful for the lesson you learned behind the situation and the greater awareness that the situation brought to you by having to go through it.
Every situation can be a GIFT. We just can't see them that way sometimes because we are viewing the situations from the wrong direction. We usually automatically look on the "bad, dark or negative" side of our situations first. When we really should be looking for what "could" be POSITIVE within each situation.
And what about you? You would naturally want others to be grateful for you and your actions. (Good or bad!) So take a moment to think of all the people who may be grateful to have YOU in their lives. And if they are not grateful right now... maybe someday they will be... once a lesson has been realized and learned.
If you know that there are some who won't be so grateful or thankful for having you in their lives because you haven't been so kind, maybe a little grumpy or because you've been a self-centered or uncaring person... change that situation! It's never too late! Do some honest and serious self-examinations. (It's something we ALL should do from time-to-time!) Fix the situation! Do something... say something.... to change that negative situation.... into a positive situation! It could be as simple as saying "I'm sorry - I know I was wrong." Don't try to be the thick-headed EGO... holding on to a grudge because your too cool... or because you fear looking "weak"... or because you don't want someone else to have the "upperhand". There is NO upperhand... only in your mind!
LET IT GO... the heart-strings that connect us are higher and more important than that! PRACTICE GRATITUDE!
