Kindness

Many years ago, on a trip to Pakistan, I saw a young boy, about the age of my nephew riding a donkey cart selling oranges.  I was amazed.  My nephew, at the time, was 12 and this 12 year old, was by himself, on a cart, selling oranges.  Through the help of my cousin, I had the opportunity to talk to him and learn his story.  He was in school, but his Mom had passed away.  And, now, he picked oranges from the villages orange trees, and both he and his Dad sold them on different days in different places.  He got up at 4 am and road the donkey cart 2.5 hours to the big city to sell oranges.  And, he would leave whenever traffic died down and no one would buy more, sometime at 11 pm at night and drive back the 2.5 hours to his village.  12 years old.  It felt like I was talking to someone at least 18, but he looked 12.  I wondered if he was ever scared.  He definitely did not look happy, but not exactly sad either.  

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I felt called to help him.  I bought oranges and paid a lot extra for them so he could have some extra money.  And, I wanted to give him some money, but did not know how to in a way that would be kind.  I ended up asking my cousin to do it for me.  Over the course of my visit, I would see him often and wave and smile but we never really spoke.  I would often send my cousin to check on him and get updates on his life.  When I left Pakistan, I left enough money with my cousin to give him 500 Rupees a month.  At the time, this was roughly $10 a month.  Over the course of the year, my cousin kept me updated about him.  That year, his whole family got new clothes for the religious holiday.  Something they tried to do once a year (this is 1 new outfit per year) but were not able to every year.  I had another visit to Pakistan and when I left, kept the money going another year.  The following year, he was able to put his three little sisters in school with the extra income.  Not only was it because of the money I was providing, but the stress was reduced, and their orange sales were also increasing.  You all understand that, it is about expectation and vibration.

I don't remember how many years I kept this up for.  I just know that when I stopped, mainly because I had not been to visit in a while, my cousin and other family members kept it going.  The family continued to thrive and flourish.  I tell this story because it reminds me of the man walking along the beach throwing starfish back into the water.  Someone says, "look at the beach, there are millions of starfish, you can't save them all.  It doesn't make a difference if you leave them here or throw them back".  To which the man replied, while tossing another one into the ocean, "it made a difference to that one."

If you think back on your own life, there have probably been some moments where someone's small kind gesture really influenced you in a major way.  I have a blog post about the time when someone one a stuffed snowman at our Holiday party and gave it to me and the impact of that small gesture.  That is why Random Acts of Kindness work.  My sister was telling me about having a hard day the other day, and the woman in line ahead of her at Starbucks was taking forever, only making my sister more irritated.  But, when she pulled up to pay for her order for four people, the woman had paid for her full order!  Needless to say, her bad day got turned upside down and became a great day.  Good moods, happiness, joy, they are contagious.  If you help one person find that, you are changing the entire world.

I hope you will join me for 30 days of Random Acts of Kindness.  We start the Friday after Thanksgiving and go to the Saturday before Christmas.  While I have chosen 30 activities for us to do together as a group, I have a list of over 100 activities that you can choose from, or you can create your own.  The goal is to do one every day for 30 days. The result of this practice will amaze you.  More joy, more peace, more resiliency to anything negative going on around you, and more of what you want flowing to you easily.  I always say, what you give, comes back 10 times over.  If you want something badly, give it away and you will get it.  We can practice giving love, peace, hope, joy, respect, kindness to others, and in return, on those days, when life gets tough, you will get it back! 

The challenge is FREE!  I hope you will join and get your office place, your place of worship, your community, your family to play with you.  The more kindness we can bestow, and the more people giving kindness, the more good we will ALL experience. You can sign up here and join the Kindness Rocks Facebook Group!  Looking forward to being KIND together!  For those of you already in Adventures with Amina, you do not need to sign up, but may want to join the Facebook Group!