I love getting email notification from Marc & Angel… one of the things they talk about on their post from a few days ago is:
Perform one selfless act. – In life, you get what you put in. When you make a positive impact in someone else’s life, you also make a positive impact in your own life. Do something that’s greater than you, something that helps someone else be happy or suffer less. I promise, it will be an extremely rewarding experience. One you’ll likely remember forever.
We should give selfishly and without looking for something in return. I want to share a few things I’ve done in the past month that have made my life more enriched and gave others, perhaps, a better day…
1. There is a lady in Guangzhou, I believe maybe around my age (late 40’s), who lives on the overpass that I use to go to the Arabic restaurant that I love. She camps out there with who I believe to be her granddaughter. A girl around 8 or so. I don’t know their story, if communication weren’t an issue, I’d ask. But each time I see them, I give her 100 RMB, that’s about $13 US, it’s the least I can do. She usually looks down, but the last time I gave it to her she smiled brightly and said, “thank you” in her best English. It was sweet.
2. I always, always smile at the Ayi’s and thank them. The Ayi’s are the housekeepers here at the hospital and people tend to ignore them. The place wouldn’t run without them! Saturday I was washing my hands at the sink when the Ayi from my department (she is also my cleaning lady at my flat) came up to the sink. I gave her a big smile and thanked her in Mandarin as she handed me a towel to dry my hands. And she walked behind me and gave me a huge hug! THAT was her random act of kindness… and it MADE MY DAY!
3. It was pouring down the rain while I was riding the bus to Surbhi and Andy’s house for dinner yesterday afternoon. There was a mom with a little baby in a carrier distressed about getting off the bus because of the rain. I gave her my umbrella and her smile was dazzling. I ducked, ran and sought shelter as much as possible after I got off the bus, but I felt good knowing that the mom and baby were dry 🙂 What’s a little rain?
These things don’t make me special… AT ALL. They make me human. I’m not pointing them out to get credit or a pat on the back… I’m pointing them out to show how giving to other’s rewards us back, tenfold! I get as much pleasure in giving as the recipients get in receiving. We should all try to do nice things for others.
What have you done in the past few weeks? Think about it… I bet you do random acts of kindness every single day without realizing it… share with me 🙂
Ciao!
Be kind whenever possible. It is always possible.
~Dalai Lama
Breathe.Give.Love
Flamidwyfe's Blog 
Good oxytocin flowing in China! 😉
Lots and lots 🙂
Thanks for reminding me about the random acts of kindness – something I truly believe in … and your post made me realize that it has been quite a while that I performed my last one!
It’s as simple as a kind smile, Moonday 🙂
How are you? I still don’t get notification of your posts 😦
Great post! you really are so kind arent you? i cant remember the last time I did anything nice for a stranger…oops! I did let someone go ahead of me in the supermarket the other day! maybe I should look out for someone in need………..
Letting someone go ahead of you on the line TOTALLY counts!!
Timely as well as timeless Sandi. A beautiful reminder 🙂
*anna
🙂 Thanks, Anna! Your posts are random acts of kindness, always so positive, it’s like a little gift every time I read them!
How weird, I was just thinking about random acts of kindness the other day. A German man came up to me in the street asking me where the nearest post office was. I told him where it was, but also told him it would be closed. He had a letter in his hand but no stamp. I told him there was a machine that you could buy stamps at outside the post office, but he said the card had to go to Germany. Having no family in this country, I usually have a few spare pre-paid international stamps and air mail stickers in my purse – it was his lucky day! He definitely ran into the right person. 🙂
Don’t know if I’d give up my umbrella though. I hate the rain! 🙂
What a perfectly lovely thing to do!
The umbrella was actually given to me on the street here in Hangzhou as an RAK, by a young man back in January. So it was only fitting to pay it forward… I love the rain 🙂
Funny that you posted this today. I always try try to help when I can and today I was lucky enough to help at t]he Publix Market. An elderly woman needed to move a shopping cart blocking her motorized cart so I moved it for her. She thanked me. A few aisles later she needed something from a top shelf and I happened along. Helped and she remembered me and said Thanks once again.. When I got to the check out with my few items a young man allowed me to go ahead . Needless to say I thanked him.
I love that my 81 year old mom calls people elderly! You’re still a youngster… And mom, you experienced good Karma… Doing random acts of kindness you are often the recipient of it back 🙂
I try to do acts of kindness when the person I am doing it for does not know who is doing it. This is hard to accomplish and as soon as I think I have it mastered I get caught. I enjoy the other types of giving and do volunteer work, serve on boards, and give when I can. And the random acts of kindness. Great post.
Those are the best, Kath! I’ve been on the recipient end and it restores your faith in many ways!
Great post …… I have a feeling that we all do those little random acts of kindness without thinking about it. They are what help us get through the day … navigate our way through the angry and turbulent waters.
I am sure, as a high school teacher, you do random acts of kindness multiple times per day… my karma would be very, very bad if I was a high school teacher… LOL. God bless you, Mona! 😀
What a beautiful post, Sandi! Its just wonderful to “know” you!! I work with families and there is always some little random act of kindness that I can do . . . even just bringing a smiling, positive attitude when I visit their home.
I have a favorite quote by Rumi that I keep above my desk at work:
“Be a lamp or a lifeboat or a ladder. Help someone’s soul heal. Walk out of your house like a shepherd”
. . . Sandi, I think you do indeed walk out of your house “like a shepherd”!
Best wishes!
Thnk you, Sarah… I certainly have days where I falter, but being kind is my goal 🙂 Working with families must be such a blessing. From your blog I gather you’re a therapist. My granddaughter, Celeste, is severely disabled with microcephaly and a genesis of the corpus collosum. Some of her therapists are like family to us 🙂