The Weekly Spark: Offer an Unexpected Kindness

There is nothing that brings me quite as much joy as the unexpected kindness.

Happy bringing me a flower he found in the yard.

My neighbor leaving some salad greens from her garden on the porch.

A nice note or word from a student.

A friend sending an article she thinks I’ll find interesting via mail.

And so, in preparing for my birthday, I wanted to offer some unexpected kindnesses to others.  Not quite random acts of kindnesses because when I hear random, I think that everyone will be random to me and some of the kindnesses haven’t been random at all in that way, but, hopefully, they have all been pleasant surprises.

So far, the unexpected kindnesses of the last couple weeks have included: taking doughnuts to both the firefighters and police officers in town, picking up a favorite book at the local bookstore and mailing it to a friend who is going through a tough time, helping a woman I met in the airport who was taking shelter there after being physically abused by her husband get to a shelter, significantly upping my tips (as a former waitress, I’ve always been big on making sure I tip generously and, at first, I thought I would leave one big ole’ tip to a server and then decided that instead, I really just wanted to measurably up all my tips), making cookies with Happy and delivering them to neighbors and friends, and challenging myself to get rid of a significant amount of clothing and take them to a clothing closet.

We’re continuing our little rush of unexpected kindnesses– there is flower delivery, more baking, coffee coverage, and other good things planned and, this week, I want to encourage you to offer your own unexpected kindness.  If you do, I hope you’ll come back and share here!