Join the new kindness trend - be kind! You will be happier if you are nice!
I want to tell you about something that happened to me the other day when I was in Gothenburg, a town on the Swedish west coast. I had been on a very interesting seminar about floods and had a spare moment before the bus was leaving. I passed a small cafe which looked so inviting and warm that I went inside to buy a cup of coffee and sit down for a while. It was a cold day so I thought that I might as well spend the time there inside where it was warm.
But when I was going to pay for the coffee I was told that the coffee was already paid for! I looked stupidly at the cafe waitress and a thousand thoughts went through my head. I felt even a little suspicious, and wondered what is the catch this time? What do they want to get out of this? Is someone trying to joke with me? This was something completely new and I was very surprised because I know that nothing is free in this world. But the waitress assured me that there wasn’t any thing strange about it, and I saw nothing unusual in the cafe. So I smiled and said to the waitress while I put the wallet back in my bag; “Thank you so much, that was very kind of you”. Then the waitress told me that it wasn’t her or the company that offered me the free coffee, instead it was a customer who had just left the cafe. That customer had paid for a cup of coffee to the next person who wanted it!
I sat down with my coffee, and felt the warmth spreading trough my body. It wasn’t just the hot coffee, it was more from the nice gesture from the unknown donor. The gesture made me happy and it made me smile while I wondered what kind of man the unknown donor was.
That day was a very good day for me and I went back home in a good spirit!
The members of the Anonymous Club
A few days afterwards when I read the newspaper, I got an explanation to why I got that free cup of coffee! I had been given one good deed from one of “the members of the Anonymous Club!
What’s that?
They call themselves; members of the Anonymous Club, and their goal is to make people happy, but those who are the subject of joy should not know who the donor is! They pay for example for an extra cup of coffee, and say to the cafe clerk to give the cup to anyone who wants it. Or they buy a rose in the flower shop and hope that the next customer will be happy to get it. Or buy a parking ticket to the next car. The idea is that the gift should come from someone unknown. And the new kindness trend is spreading across the country.
The trend is originally from France. There a person paid road toll for the car that came behind. Those who sat in the car behind were so happy that they did the same thing, and so it went on!
Now I have become a member of the anonymous Club, and I try to do good deeds as often as I can! I know how good it feels inside to get such a gift, and it isn’t about the money. The important thing is that someone in this world had a good thought, and good deeds spread like ripples in water. And by doing something good for others, I feel warmth inside, as a pleasure experience. I think we will be happier by being good and also a bit good by being happy
I think that this way of spreading kindness is wonderful and that it is needed as counterbalance to all evil! People are both good and evil, but sometimes it seems as if we focus on only the bad things. I try to remember that even those who do evil acts have something good inside them, even if it is well hidden. Maybe they just need to be reminded.
There are many people talking and writing about being kind!
The scientist and author Stefan Einhorn has written the book; The art of being kind! He says that compassion is something that spreads. People who have been generous and kindly treated have a greater tendency to be generous and kind to others. What if kindness could become a popular movement – it would be good for society and for each one of us. This is a very good book, and after you read it you can’t wait to be good to others.
This is another great sentence taken from the book; Made for Goodness, by Desmond Tutu
Goodness changes the way we view the world, the way we look at others, and, most importantly, the way w e look at ourselves. Complacency affects everyone’s quality of life. What constitutes quality of life on this planet? There is nothing more than the sum of our daily interactions. All acts of kindness will increase the quality of life. All viciousness reduces it.”.
Other quotes;
“ Compassion is the best calming medicine” from Dalai Lama
“Be nice to people on your way up, because you meet them on your way down!” Jimmy Durante.
“It’s nice to be important, but it is more important to be nice” Melissa Hahn.
