Task One Option:

Cut an article out of the newspaper that would interest a friend and mail it to them.

Task Two Option:

write a note, send a e-greeting “just to say hello” to someone who might need a pick me up

Task Three Option:

Send a card to a friend or relative you haven’t seen for some time. Include a photo of yourself and/or your family.

Well today I decided to send a card to a relative. You know in our busy lives it is so often easy to get lost in those things right at hand. School functions, work projects, home projects, kids, family………days can sweep right by. And often those things and people which are not right there in your lives can unintentionally be set on the side. It certainly isn’t on purpose that we don’t think of our relatives who don’t live near us, it is just that our modern lives, we get so bombarded with the here and now and the never ending to-do list that for me at least……if you are not smack dab in my face…I may not think of you.

So I sent a card to my grandmother. I love her dearly and because she lives hours away, I definitely am not given many opportuinities to see her. She isn’t a person of the tech generation either, so emails do not flow back and forth. Emails seem to be my main form of communication to keep in touch with people, so again when perusing my email contact list her name doesn’t pop up. Yet every time this task comes up she pops right in my mind. She is someone very special and important to me yet I don’t have daily reminders to keep in touch with her, so I am grateful for this task list.

So I sent her a little card to say hello and give her a quick update to the children.

I miss her and love her and wanted her to know that.

Life is precious and often short so we should always remember to tell people we love them.

Technorati Tags: random acts of kindness, giving, helping others

I had a long day yesterday (not the bad kind just one in which when my feet finally stood still….it was when I was in the horizontal position and out for the night). Therefore, I did not get to post last night for my task for yesterday.

Yesterday one of the task options was to send an e-greeting to a friend. So I sent one to a friend I haven’t seen in a long time and who I miss talking to since life has become so busy. I am pretty sure it put a smile on their face, and I am most certain it put one on mine.

Again a very simple task but one that spreads smiles

Technorati Tags: random acts of kindness, giving, helping others

Task One Option:

Send handmade cards or a letter to someone you care for

Task Two Option:

Share a comic strip or something funny with someone else.

Task Three Option:

Copy a favorite recipie and give it to someone

*Sigh*

Well as excited as I was……….and as truly ideal the job was……..I received the disappointing news today that I did not get the job I had felt that I had gotten. HUGE disappointment you could say.

So yes I felt like I had the wind sucked out of my sails today. It was definitely a time when I wanted to sit on a pity pot and feel sorry for myself. Two more people from my work put in their notice today while I found that I am still stuck here. I couldn’t help but wonder if all the rats were going to bail ship and if I have a destiny to get sucked down with the sinking ship. But I know that everything does happen for a reason….and although I truly thought that everything about this job was perfect for me and fitting into my life….apparently it wasn’t because it didn’t happen. I have faith that something will come along…just apparently (as I have a quick tantrum) not when I want it to.

So since I was feeling rather sorry for myself I knew what I definitely needed to do. I needed to get out of myself and do something for someone else….hence an angel task. As I said I was in a pity mood….so although I should have picked something off of my daily task list I didn’t. It was somewhat of a pity crisis so I needed to grab something quick. So I pulled out a card from my collection of greeting cards I have amassed and then picked a random name. (Being at work I couldn’t use my phone book so I went on anywho and threw some letters in the search criteria with a zip code….and grabbed a name from those that appeared.)

So I sent a card to a stranger wishing them a great day and happiness. (Yes these people must really think a freak sends these things!) I guess I will never know.

So nope… I didn’t get the job….but hey….I will just keep on moving forward and waiting for what heads my direction.

Technorati Tags: random acts of kindness, giving, helping others

Friday was a suprisingly sluggish day at work. For some reason my usually hectic day was moving at a snail’s pace and my typical workload had dissapeared for the day. I often find such slow days the most difficult, because honestly one can only do so much of the dreaded administrative work before the mind falls to sleep, and one can only fill so much time with surfing the web before that too gets boring. I knew a co-worker of mine is having a bit of a rough spell in his life though, so I did spend some time talking with him and reminding him how things do change and move forward and even the toughest times …we all get through….sure even if it means more ahead….but the fact is we always get through those times. We have to..just to face whatever good or bad is in our path ahead. And one thing I do know from this whole adventure is that the power of positive thinking and reaching outside of one’s self truly does affect ones own life in a very good way.

Saturday was a catch up errand running day, and  for my kindness I was in an e-greeting sort of mood so sent a few e-greetings to some friends I hadn’t sent anything to in quite a while. I am actually wondering if they think I fell off the planet. So I have let them know I didn’t and hopefully gave them something to snicker at as well. I also took my kids to the library and got them all their own library cards. Opening a word of reading to a child is one of the greatest gifts we have to share. Reading is something I always encourage for my kids.

Sunday we went to visit family and spend time with them. I didn’t particularly do any kindness task on Sunday, but it was a day spent with family and friends and caring about each other. A simple time of enjoying family and the company of others.

Technorati Tags: random acts of kindness, giving, helping others

Today was sort of neat.

When I send my cards out….whether it is to a name I randomly pick out of a phone book, or to a group or person that I am letting know I really like what they are doing to help others or bring sunshine to peoples lives… I always send them anonymously just putting in one of my angel cards. So I really never know what the people think, whether they read them, thought I was a weirdo or what. That is one thing that I have learned about committing random acts of kindness anonymously….you have to truly enjoy it for what you are doing because you don’t usually get to see if anyone liked what you did, or even if it put a smile on their face.

But today I got an unexpected suprise. The other day I was having a really cruddy drive into work. The traffic was bad..I had 50 million worries going on in my head…just one of those awful days. And as I always do I was listening to the radio and the morning crew..and they were so upbeat and funny that despite the cruddiness I found myself smiling and laughing. So when I got to work I decide to send them a card letting them know how much I liked what they did for me and countless others while heading to work. How they put smiles on people’s faces…and thanked them. Sending it anonymously as I do.
So today while sitting in traffic once again..and listening to the radio I heard them mention how they got a card from a listener….then all of a sudden I heard my own words being spoken on the radio! It was very surreal….and caught me off guard. And when he said that it made his day….I was filled with happiness. Ok yes this may sound dorky but it did! I was so happy hearing that! I got the opportunity to hear something from one of my cards! It wasn’t how I expected, but wow! This is what it is about! I thanked them for the smiles they bring me…..that thanking them…made them feel good….and then knowing the card made them feel good…what a wonderful cycle! See how a little thanks and appreciation goes such a long way! I truly think we forget to express our thanks and gratitude to others so much.

Today for my task….I was in such a bouncy mood….and from my morning start feeling all smiley and happy about kindness….so I wrote some post its with different sayings…about smiling and have a great day….stuff like that. Carried the post it pad with me….and randomly put them up around the office as I went through my day….definitely a fun thing to do!

Technorati Tags: random acts of kindness, giving, helping others

Well yesterday I had a job interview so most of my day was focused on that. It seemed to have gone really well, but only time will tell.

The day was mostly over when I realized I hadn’t done any task. Luckily I had one errand left and it involved a trip to the post office. So when I bought a book of stamps, I tore some off and left them with one of my random acts of kindness cards by a letter scale for some stranger to find.

I didn’t have an opportunity to enter this blog last night.

I had a rather emotional night last night….feeling a lot of feelings and shedding a lot of tears. One of those rough but necessary times when one has to just sit and feel the feelings. Even when one implements positive thinking in one’s lives there are times which other things do come in. Being positive and thinking positive does not simply remove reality from ones life… it just gives one a different way to approach things. I choose to approach things from a positive manner, but sometimes yes those moments do happen when life treads a little harder than others. I am not a fictional Polyanna from a movie but a real person. So I felt through the emotions and made decisions on where I needed to take actions in my life.

That sums up my emotional state last night I suppose.

I heard a great quote the other day…… “Abundance and lack ixist on the same plane. It is our attitude and how we look at things that makes the difference.” I really like this quote so I thought I would share it.

Anyhow, yesterday for my task I selected the task about putting change in a row of vending machines. The tricky part of this is doing it so you are not seen. If you are seen… it is very likely that someone will think that you have just plain lost your marbles!

So I decided to go down to our company break room a while after the lunch stampede was over. I then went and put a bit of change in each of the vending machines we have down there. I chose the after the lunch time frame for two reasons, one of course was to have a better chance of getting it accomplished without being seen, and the second because usually the people that hit the vending machines late in the day are those that get stuck working late and need an extra snack to tie them over. So I figured it would be a pleasant suprise to someone who may be having a longer than typical day to find that their snack has already been paritally paid.

Hopefully it helped put a smile on someone’s face

Technorati Tags: random acts of kindness, giving, helping others

Task One Option:

Cut coupons out and leave them at the grocer register for others

Task Two Option:

Cut an article out of the newspaper that would interest a friend and mail it to them.

Task Three Option:

Put a quarter in a parking meter that has expired

I was suprised with myself today. When I went to look at the daily tasks and got to the parking meter task. I copped an attitude. All morning on the drive to work I was having a slight anxiety attack over finances and doing the financial juggling routine in my head in an attempt to figure out how I will manage this month. So when I saw the task, I actually thought……….no I don’t want to  give up a quarter I need all my quarters for my laundry.

Almost as soon as I thought the thought I was suprised at myself and realized how suddenly selfish I had become in that moment. I had completely lost focus on to myself. So just for that reason I decided that the quarter in the parking meter was EXACTLY the task I needed to do. To remind myself that something as simple as a quarter……..can mean and do so much.

Sure I need my quarters for laundry…….but the three quarters I popped into meters this afternoon supplied me with just as much if not more. It gave me happiness.

Technorati Tags: random acts of kindness, giving, helping others

Day Sixty Four - I was rather bogged down with speeding through the days, so to complete my random acts of kindness on Wednesday, I sent some cute e-greetings to friends

Day Sixty Five - I actually was a recipient of a random act of kindness, I received a whole bunch of craftin stuff from a co-worker for my kids, so after running errands, the children and I finished our evening doing crafts. Thank you to my angel!

Day Sixty Six - Friday! TGIF! A hectic but really good Friday. My focus for the day was to speak to people I hadn’t spoken to….and to say Hi to everyone I saw (sort of dorky but I thought I would try it). It was great and kept me in high spirits all day. I can be rather shy, so making a point to say hi and hello to strangers was a good exercise for myself besides just creating positive energy for the day.

Day Sixty Seven - Well like so many Saturdays, Saturday was cleaning day. So I spent much of the early part of the day doing more sorting of clothes and other household stuff deciding what we do and don’t need. My box for donations is getting larger and larger. I can’t wait until the kids and I take it and drop it off! I also spent a great amount of time playing games and baking with my kids so it was a family day - which is a kindness all families should enjoy

Day Sixty Eight - today. Today was a glorious day after all the gloomy rainy days we have had lately. So I did a few acts of kindness today - guess the sunshine got to me. I picked some names from the phone book to send cards out. I also wrote some thank yous to different groups or agencies or people that brighten my day or inspire me. When the kids and I went to the playgound to play…..i put some change around for children to find. Yes it was a great day!

Technorati Tags: random acts of kindness, giving, helping others

Yes, yes I have not been able to get on here and list my activities for the past few days. Been busy rushing around experiencing life… but all in a good way

I may be off for a while as well (crossing my fingers that I am not) because I just got a computer given to me (not a new computer but hopefully better than my current one). Therefore, I will be attempting to connect it probably this weekend and hopefully not have any issues. Oh I must say it is a Mac….and I am currently on a PC. Not sure if that will cause any problems either.

So anyways…..Saturday was my day to sort through much of the fall clothes to decide for the kids what still fits and what doesn’t. Well my daughter has sprung like a weed this past year so none of her clothes fit. So I started a box of clothes which will be donated. I have always in the past given much of the clothes and donations to Good Will since it is one of the things on my random acts of kindness task list. However I have decided that this tub (which is becoming very very full) will instead be going to a homeless shelter for families. I know that goodwill sells the clothes and uses the money for different things, however I know there are many children right now who really don’t have many clothes for school, and I would like to more directly help such a child. So that is what my saturday task was.

Sunday was more my daughter than me. She came up to me saying “I am bored.” a familiar chant from a child as most parents can attest to. So I pointed out all the paper and crayons and markers and suggested she color. She then stated that she didn’t know what to color. So I suggested she color some pictures or cards for children in the hospital and we could send them to the hospital to give to some children or put up in their rooms. She liked that idea, so made many colorful pictures and signs suggesting happiness and get well wishes.

Monday was a hectic day of unending lists of things I had to get done in a minimal amount of time. I have to admit I got very sucked into my day and projects and got into the “get through the day” mode. But I still found time to send a Cute Monday Cheer up card to several of my friends. Monday is always a tough day for most of us, so I figured I would send a smile email to everyone. Sort of a smile reminder that we all feel that UGH on a Monday

Yesterday, another busy day (seems that has become a constant in my life lately for today already looks like it is headed on the same path). My kindness for yesterday was sharing with friends, spending quality time with my children, doing something special for my children, saying hello to a friend I haven’t spoken to in a while, and being good to myself. Nothing that jumps out but just as important all the same!

Technorati Tags: random acts of kindness, giving, helping others