The Kindness Box

[Geoff-Allen]

That one looks a good site -

We, as the human race, tend to forget that we all have our own personal battles we face every day without the outside world knowing. You will never know the extent of what is happening in someone's personal life because you are not living life like them. I was raised to be selfless, kind, lend a helping hand when someone is in need, and to treat others how you would like to be treated. I feel as though we have forgotten those morals as a whole. Let this be a wake-up call or a reminder to maybe be a little nicer to the coffee shop worker who messed up your order or your waitress who is also a college student that works two jobs, is a single parent, and is running on two hours of sleep that day. If we treat each other with kindness we will see a real change in society, a much-needed change. Start treating those around you with kindness every day, focus on the positivity in your life, and see how your own daily life will improve. After all, we are all human.

Be Kind

 

[Geoff-Allen]

In Be Kind, kids learn that kindness is a quality that can be expressed in ways other than merely being “nice,” including standing up for someone or something, engaging in a community, showing compassion toward other beings, and expressing gratitude. With joyful illustrations and kid-friendly writing, this idea book serves as a delightful, easy-to-read collection of 100 concrete activities kids and their families can pick and choose from and act out in their daily lives, whether it’s being the first person to say good morning, offering compliments, shoveling an elderly neighbor’s driveway, learning to say hello in different languages, or sending a card to someone — no special occasion required. On every page, Be Kind empowers kids to make the world a better, kinder place, one action at a time.

Full review here -

Be Kind: You Can Make the World a Happier Place! 125 Kind Things to Say & Do

 

[Geoff-Allen]

My husband and I have spent many family discussions teaching our children about kindness. We tell our kids that what goes around comes around. If you want to be treated with kindness, you need to treat others with kindness. We’ve been successful for the most part, but kids make mistakes (who doesn’t?) and need a refresher now and then. Here are some books that celebrate kindness and help my family remember how and why we should be kind.

Children’s Books That Champion Kindness | Brightly

Enjoy!

 

[Geoff-Allen]

Here We Are ties the great big cosmos and all of us tiny little humans together: While Earth is huge and there are many people living here, we’re all in this together. Jeffers reminds us to be kind and that we’re never alone — a message that’s as comforting to parents as it is to small children.

Heartwarming and sprinkled with Jeffers’s signature wit, this story touched my daughter and me in different ways. My daughter was taken by the vastness of the universe and how teensy humans are in comparison. She was in awe of how small Earth seems when you look at it as part of the solar system, even though things like mountains and skyscrapers seem unbelievably big. She also loved the idea that we’re all the same. She kept repeating “we might look different, but we’re all people.” I loved that.

Oliver Jeffers’s Here We Are Is a Wondrous Read for Kids and Parents | Brightly

Loads more at that site - if you have the time & the inclination

 

[Geoff-Allen]

The ABC's Australia Talks National Survey showed us that one thing most Australians have in common is the desire to be respected and show more respect to others.

Kindness can be the engine of respect — showing people they're respected and helping them to respect themselves. But it can only do that if it starts by recognising that the person we're being kind to is our equal. They aren't to be used, manipulated or invalidated. They're to be heard, understood, challenged and valued.

Read the full-piece -

The one ingredient that makes a true act of kindness - ABC Life

Cheers!

 

[Geoff-Allen]

DON'T be obsessed with the people you can't help. Focus on the people you can. You are a mortal. You, like everyone else, are limited. Obsessing about what you can't do prevents you from thinking about things you can do.

DON'T let the lack of kindness and giving of others influence you to stop helping and giving. Some people feel resentful, "Other people aren't helping. Why should I?" We learn from role models. Learn from those who are kind, not from those who aren't.

Read the rest of the ten don'ts -

Ten Don'ts for Kindness

 

[Geoff-Allen]

Kindness is paramount in Jewish thought. When the Romans destroyed the Second Temple in Jerusalem nearly 2,000 years ago, the Talmud pinpoints the cause: Jewish infighting and sinat chinam, baseless hatred of one another.

Displaying true love and kindness to one another increases our merit to once again have the Temple in Jerusalem. The Nine Days preceding the fast of Tisha B’Av, which commemorates the destruction of both the First and Second Temples, is a prime time to start changing our behavior and adopting a kinder way of relating to others. Here are 10 Jewish quotes about kindness to help inspire you.

Comes from that same site - looks worthy of exploring ...

10 Jewish Quotes About Kindness

 

[Geoff-Allen]

Even more ...

A puppy named Sky … a video recording studio in the basement … a beach getaway complete with make-believe pirates … a dream trip to Paris … a private tour of a zoo and cuddle time with baby otters … becoming a full-fledged national park ranger. These are some of the half-million wishes one foundation has granted to critically ill children worldwide since 1980.

It all started when Frank Shankwitz had a chance to make a wish come true for a 7-year-old boy with terminal leukemia. An Arizona Highway Patrol motorcycle officer with a troubled past, Shankwitz survived a near-fatal accident during a high-speed pursuit.

As part of Frank's rehabilitation, Police Chief Sgt. Eddie Newman asked him to take his mind off his troubles and help someone else. He suggested Shankwitz spend time with 7-year-old Chris, whose dying wish was to be a Highway Patrol motorcycle officer like Jon Baker and Frank "Ponch" Poncherello on the TV show CHiPS.

An unlikely friendship was born. The boy inspired Shankwitz, 38 and at rock bottom to follow a new path, which ultimately led him to create the Make-A-Wish Foundation.

Make a Wish: Creating Ripples of Kindness

Cheers!

 

[Geoff-Allen]

The world is a vale of tears, no doubt about it. At the drop of a simple "how are you" anyone can open their big book of loss, disappointment and pain. It's true for all of us, though surely more for some than others. Black threads are woven into the very fabric of every life.

No wonder, then, that the Jewish tradition elevates deeds of loving kindness (chesed) to the highest possible ranking among soul-traits. Only some problems have solutions, but all are alleviated by the loving response of those around us.

In Pirkei Avot (2:1) we learn that: "The world stands on three things: on the Torah, on the service of God, and upon acts of loving kindness." The fact that chesed is one of the three pillars on which the world stands underlines how very important this soul-trait must be.

Path of the Soul #7: Loving Kindness

 

[Geoff-Allen]

Consider the poor chabad -

Aside of the specific duties mentioned already, there are other obligations that are included in the mitzvah of Gemilut Chassadim.

The determinative factor of chessed, thus of Gemilut Chassadim, is the personal involvement (as explained above, chapter 1).The mitzvah of Gemilut Chassadim is not fulfilled by simply alleviating some need by material assistance. The true meaning of this mitzvah is best expressed by the Rabbis when they said: "It does not say 'happy is he who gives to the poor,' but 'happy is he who considers the poor.’ (Psalms 41:2)1”

Empathy, sympathy, sincere consideration, is much more important than material assistance. A Talmudic proverb reads: 'the man who shows his teeth white (i.e., a cheerful countenance) to his fellow, is better than he who gives him milk to drink2.’ Even when giving another all the good gifts in the world, but doing so with a downcast face, Scripture accounts it as though nothing has been given. Conversely, when welcoming another with a cheerful countenance, though unable to give him anything, Scripture accounts it as though all the good gifts in the world had been given3.

"Consider the Poor..."

 

[Geoff-Allen]

Guess what - I found a few more quotes ...

Quotes about Helping/Service to Others | Energize: Volunteer Management Resources for Directors of Volunteers

Everybody can be great. Because anybody can serve. You don't have to have a college degree to serve. You don't have to make your subject and your verb agree to serve. You don't have to know the second theory of thermodynamics in physics to serve. You only need a heart full of grace. A soul generated by love.

~ Martin Luther King

Cheers!

 

[Geoff-Allen]

How to help your fellow man -

With sunken, hallow eyes filled with despair, people line up for spare change across the streets of America. The pennies that they get are often all that they have to buy food or a few small things that they might need. It might seem impossible that hunger could be so commonplace in the richest country of the world, but it is.

Many here live in poverty because they have lost their jobs, or they have been ill for many years. The few homeless shelters and missions that can help are so full that some can only allow people to stay for a few hours a day. And unfortunately, this includes small children.

To change the current state of destitution requires everyone working together. Each of us can get started with any of these four ways.

From this site -

4 Ways to Help Your Fellow Man - OMTimes Magazine

 

[Geoff-Allen]

The Good Samaritan is not the only passage of the Bible that instructs us to care for the less fortunate. Consider these:

Hebrews 13:16 “Do not neglect to do good and to share what you have, for such sacrifices are pleasing to God.”

Matthew 25:35-40 “For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, I was naked and you clothed me, I was sick and you visited me, I was in prison and you came to me.’ Then the righteous will answer him, saying, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you drink? 38 And when did we see you a stranger and welcome you, or naked and clothe you? And when did we see you sick or in prison and visit you?’ And the King will answer them, ‘Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me.”

Proverbs 19:17 “Whoever is generous to the poor lends to the Lord, and he will repay him for his deed.”

Philippians 2:4 “Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others.”

What Does The Bible Say About Helping Your Fellow Man? For Example, Refugees

 

[Geoff-Allen]

Feed the hungry -

https://feedthehungry.org.au/our-im...-does-the-bible-say-about-feeding-the-hungry/

 

[Geoff-Allen]

Kindness is number 15 of these suggestions to feed your soul -

33 Ways to Feed Your Soul | SUCCESS

All the best!

 

[Geoff-Allen]

If you do away with the yoke of oppression, with the pointing finger and malicious talk, and if you spend yourselves in behalf of the hungry and satisfy the needs of the oppressed, then your light will rise in the darkness, and your night will become like the noonday. The Lord will guide you always; he will satisfy your needs in a sun-scorched land and will strengthen your frame. You will be like a well-watered garden, like a spring whose waters never fail. — Isaiah 58:6-11

Comes from this site -

What Does God Have To Say About Poverty?

Cheers!

 

[Geoff-Allen]

From humble beginnings in 1897 Germany, Caritas, named after a Latin word meaning love and compassion, grew to become one of the world’s largest humanitarian agencies. The Catholic Agency for Aid and Development, Caritas began in Australia in 1964. And many people, then and now, feel that supporting Caritas is a great way to reach out to people in need.

Learn more at this site -

Using Love and Compassion to End Poverty | Who We Are | Caritas Australia

 

[Geoff-Allen]

Behind the divisions in America—and the world—over politics that seem broader and sharper than at any point in my five decades, there is a flourishing counter movement for kindness. In fact, some social entrepreneurs have built businesses around kindness. Professors are teaching it. Kindness is a thing.

Still, as much as I admire people and the movement behind kindness, I sometimes worry that when we hear the word kindness many people think mostly about being nice and polite. While I’m all for good manners, the real problems in our world are not due to a lack of civility.

Deep Kindness -- When Smiling At Strangers Isn't Enough

Cheers!

 

[Geoff-Allen]

Who are the poor of this world? The Bible uses several terms to describe them, each with a different shade of meaning. First, poor can mean those completely destitute, without even a meager sufficiency for their basic needs. Their plight is truly desperate. They haven’t the wherewithal to keep body and soul together.

Poor can also mean needy for a time. These are people who through bereavement, infirmity, or disaster are for the time unable to secure the necessaries of life. At least temporarily, they are in serious want.

Sometimes to be poor means simply to be weak and without influence. Such people are not necessarily destitute or even in serious want, but they have no clout, no political power, no hope of bringing about change in their situation. They are the little people of the world, easily overlooked and easily exploited. Finally, the word poor sometimes means humble and godly. These are people who live in modest circumstances who must often endure affliction and sadness, but they do so patiently with lowly dependence on God. In this sense, the “poor of the land,” those whom Jesus calls the “poor in spirit” are the faithful. They look to God for security and redemption. They refuse to put their trust in political schemes or material prosperity.

From the words of hope site -

Kindness to the Poor

 

[Geoff-Allen]

With difficultly hearing and a throbbing in my head, I found my frightened and confused eight-year-old little self in a strange and unfamiliar place – a hospital ward. I was about to be removed from my offending tonsils and adenoids. There I was, cast adrift from my familiar world, in a place that smelt weird and felt cold, despite the heating offered. Bewildered, and with a throat on fire, I awoke to the terrifying thought, “Where on earth am I?” Then I looked around and saw a kindly nurse sitting next to my bed. She offered me a glass of water, and then placed a cool flannel over my burning forehead and spoke soothing words. I will never, ever, forget her kindness.

Since that day, the power of kindness has never been lost on me. A kindly smile, a simple gesture, a helping hand. Kindness is a gentle strength that dwells within us all, and just like our muscles, the more we exercise it, the more it will grow, and the benefits that flow are many fold, bettering lives, relationships and indeed the world.

More blogs at this location -

https://www.edgarsmission.org.au/264779/life-better-kindness/

All the best!