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