On Saturday morning I had breakfast with two lovely friends. I noticed a lady with a hat on who looked as if she could have been having cancer treatment. She was alone. She was sitting with her head in her hands a lot and shaking a lot when she did drink.
I was sitting in a beautiful cafe in Bali enjoying a delicious meal, ($7), one that would be luxury for many Balinese, when I noticed through the dark of the night, opposite, in the dirty doorway of a closed store, a Balinese woman lying on the ground with an adolescent girl and an infant draped…
I used to work in a manufacturing facility. The maintenance guy was an older single man who was known to be a grumpy ass. I’m a ray of sunshine that seeks to relieve the darkness. It took a few months before he’d even talk to me.
I gave away some bedroom furniture to several people needing a dresser or nightstand etc., so I could make room for stuff I have in storage. One lady picked up a long dresser yesterday and we managed to get it in her van. I commented that since it fit in her van that the smaller…
I have great memories of a practice development workshop I attended a number of years ago that Dr John Hinwood was conducting. We were looking at how our attitudes to money could either hold us back or move us forward in life. It was a pretty intense session, with loads of energy in the room…
The Knit-For Service Club began in 2004 with twenty members and has grown to eighty-plus boys and girls who knit to help others. The first year, we made one patchwork blanket to donate to Harold, the King of the Valentine’s Day Dance, at his retirement home. Since then, we have collectively knit over two dozen…
I was given a nice pay it forward today. I was getting my hair cut and my stylist and I were talking about food and I said how I would love to go for sushi. She said well, why don’t you go? I told her about the unexpected medical bills I had this week when…
I have always believed in the joy of giving and that simple acts of compassion are the core of our humanity. I like the idea of spreading love and hope through random acts of kindness, it fills my heart with joy to be able to serve others and share small gifts with loved ones. Sometimes small…
In 2007, life was unbelievably happy for me. I was doing a lot of things many people thought I would never do, myself included. In March, I married a man I was deeply in love with and considered my best friend and was pregnant with his child. My mom was on cloud nine because we had…
The most memorable act of kindness I have been involved in as a giver was around 3 years ago when I gave one of my adult students a red scarf that my mum had knitted. I was teaching a TAFE class during winter and every Tuesday I would arrive wearing a different coloured knitted scarf….
Last year I experienced the worst year of my life, and as always, it came out of nowhere. I was living with my partner over in Wales, on the other side of the world from my family, working and looking forward to a European summer. In about March, I had noticed I was bruising exceptionally…
AÂ few years ago, my hubby had open heart surgery. When he got out of the hospital, our neighbor was IN the hospital. We went to see him and when we left we realized we had a flat tire. We got out to look at it and before we knew it a man stopped to help….