Kindness is Contagious

So, this is new for me. Blogging. Weird. (Except for back in the day when Myspace was all the rage. I had stellar Myspace blogs...) But I feel like I have something of importance to give and share with the world all of a sudden. A shift in perspective.

I've come to understand in the past few years that giving and receiving are one. Especially when done from the heart and with conscious intention. In fact, it's an infinite loop of love, kindness, compassion and generosity. What you put out is indeed what you receive. That goes for everything I suppose. You put out negativity, you'll receive negativity. You put out positivity, you'll receive positivity. But it has never been more clear than recently.

I've always been a giver. I love to give gifts. I pride myself in that. Surprise, random, sweet, silly, spontaneous little gift giver I am. Then last month (Dec '09) I was inspired by The Ellen Show (of course) and her 12 Days of Giveaways. Since giving is nothing new to me I thought, I can do that too, heck I'll double it. Then I thought, if I'm doing 24 days I might as well do all 31 days of December. So that is what it became: The 31 Days of Giving.

And it was one of the most life changing experiences of my life. That's a big statement, but it was. It was also one of the most fun. I gave food to food drives, clothes to clothes drives, toys to toy drives, coats to coat drives... December is FULL of some type of "drive". I also continued in my spontaneous gift giving to friends, family and colleagues. I'm a (HS dance) teacher so I made my classes more like being in the audience for the Ellen show, "Everyone is getting a copy of _________". The kids loved it obviously. Everyone loves free stuff.

I also made some donations to organizations that I support such as, The Humane Society, Greenpeace, The Invisible Children and PETA. Not giant donations. (Like I said, I'm a teacher.) But enough to know my money is making a difference. I also donated time, which I think is more important than giving money. I spent the day at Animal Acres, a sanctuary for animals rescued from the factory farming industry. I met some of the most beautiful individuals that day, both human and animal. Kindred spirits. And even though I spent the next 2 days being sore from all the sweeping, shoveling and cleaning, it was absolutely worth it!

That's the biggest lesson in all of this, it feels good to give. It makes me happy to make others happy. I feel it's almost selfish in a way. There's instant gratification when you see the joy on someone's face and the gratitude they feel. I share in that with them. I also tried to get my loved ones in on it, so they could feel what I was feeling. I took my brother with me to go drop off a box of blankets and toys to the local animal shelter. In turn they let us come in and play with the kitties up for adoption. The energy of the place completely changed and my brother and I left the place buzzing with joy.

I knew by day 9 that this is how I wanted to spend everyday of 2010 (and beyond). So the 365 Days of Giving was born. I'll do blogs to re-cap the "Week in Giving", but I will say that I feel like I'm onto something really good and really big. I can't quite describe it. I'm different. The way I see the world and my reality are different.

I want everyone to feel this amazingness with me. Even if you only do one small generous act a week, you will see that it has a ripple effect. Same is if you drop a small stone in a pond. The love you put out, continues in all directions from you. And you too will see that kindness is contagious.

I will leave you with some of my favorite quotes about compassion, generosity and kindness.

Enjoy! 

Kindness in words creates confidence. Kindness in thinking creates profoundness. Kindness in giving creates love. -- Lao Tzu

It is the greatest of all mistakes to do nothing because you can only do a little. -- Sydney Smith 

Generosity is living in the trust that you are always provided for and can provide for others. -- Jon Marro (Owner of Blend Apparel)

I have found that among its other benefits, giving liberates the soul of the giver. -- Maya Angelou

Compassion is a muscle that grows stronger with use and the act of choosing kindness over cruelty will change us. -- Jonathan Safran Foer (Author of "Eating Animals")

What can you give away today? -- Cafe Gratitude

♥∞,

~B