Look For Kindness and You Will Find It!

As I have been working on cutting down the negativity in my life I have discovered that I often only see what I am looking for. If I am expecting people to be rude and uncaring, that is usually all that I see. This led to the decision to look for the small acts of kindness that surround me everyday, but often goes unnoticed.

On Thursday I took the kids on an outing to Costco (I know, I know, we are wild and crazy) not even thinking that it was the beginning of the month and that it was closed the day before for the holiday. It was much more crowded then I would have expected for a Thursday around 1 and I really try not to take the kids shopping in crowds because it stresses me out! I can not even count the times that they have been hit/ bumped by carts and criticized for being in the way of grumpy shoppers in crowded stores over the years.
Since we were already in the parking lot by the time I realized my mistake I figured we might as well brave the crowd and venture in. It was very crowded. There were at least 5-10 carts down every side isle in the store and many more in main ones, and although I am sure there were many a hurried shopper cursing everyone else for being in there way, I am happy to report I did not witness them.

Source

Instead I saw a women reaching for some cherries that were above her head and the container opening and spilling out all over the floor. I also saw one women, and then another, stop their shopping and bend over to help her pick them up. Even after the women had thanked them many times and insisted that she had it taken care of. I also saw a man unaware of what had happened walk past a run away cherry on the floor and then doubled back to pick it up and toss it into an empty box near by.

Sure these were very little acts, and took no more then a minute out of their day, but there were out of concern for someone other then themselves. They certainly didn’t HAVE to help at all, but they chose to anyway and that is pretty darn cool.

I am going to give you all another challenge this week. I want you to look for the small acts of kindness that surround you everyday, that you might have otherwise missed, and come back and share them with me! They can be anything! Big or small, I just want you to be out there looking for the good in each other!