The Life Changing Gift of Looking For Kindness

The author of a book I am  reading went for a hike in the Blue Ridge mountains. He had done it many times before but this trek was made difficult by the numerous trees that had fallen across the path. He found himself muttering about the inconvenience and wondering why the trees hadn't been cut and removed. After viewing the stunning scene from the top and on the way down, he had a revelation. Many trees had been moved.In fact he counted and 47 trees had been removed and 42 had not. How kind and helpful the removal had been and why had he only noticed the ones in the way?

When my husband and I boarded a flight for New York this summer, we had plenty of carry-ons. When the plane landed, a young woman in our row offered to help get them down. We accepted and I was very moved by her kind suggestion. In those moments, something opened in my heart and I heard this suggestion: in the next two weeks, look for kindnesses.  Almost right away I started my list with my husband's efforts to tie the shoes of a man older than us ( there are such people) who had been wrongly told to take his shoes off in the security screening area.That was the beginning.

Other instances followed:

...a waitress in an outdoor cafe giving a patron's dog a bowl of water.

...a cleaning lady at the same place running after us to give John his left behind sunglasses.

...friendly men in the thrift store.

...the older man in the antique store who when he heard my yellow ceramic bell was to fly home, wrapped it in so much gauze it would have bounced if I dropped it.

...my niece setting up our cell phones so we could communicate with our children.

...the staff at the clinic in Kingston, so compassionate and helpful

 There were many more but the last one that I witnessed never fails to bring tears. We were at the ice cream store and at the head of the line was a young woman and what looked like her frail grandma. John was 4th on this outside line and he noticed that they were walking away without a treat. He knew immediately what happened: they had only a credit card at the cash only window. He walked up and quietly told the young girl to buy Grandma a cone and handed her twenty dollars.She thanked him profusely and after the purchase gave him the change. Sun and light surrounded us all.

Since we came home, I start each day listing the kindnesses of others and my own from the day before. Because of this focus, I  am finding many more opportunities to do kind deeds. Life changing.