I think I consider myself to be a thoughtful person, but I'm a strong believer that you can always do better. This wish was added to the list mainly for me to get creative around being kind, not only in terms of things to do but also in who to do them for. It's relatively easy to buy a friend a coffee when she is having a bad day, or just to show your appreciation, but what about random strangers? I knew this was a bit more challenging for me, for the mere reason of me feeling insecure about approaching them. Kerry would laugh at me for writing this, because whenever we went out, I would always just start talking to anyone, it's not something that's ever bothered me. Since losing him, I've gotten a bit less confident in approaching strangers, so maybe this was one way of getting myself reacquainted with that again. I think the most challenging one for me was following through with my plan to buy some food for the homeless person who always sits outside the grocery store. There was a hesitance in me to approach him, not merely because he's a stranger but also because I didn't know how he'd respond. Will he actually want something from the store or will he get upset with me for not giving him change? How do I start a conversation with him? Really I just felt awkward. Partly maybe because we don't have a lot of homeless people in Belgium, or you don't see them at least. Partly also because I was concerned about what he would think of me, this middle class white girl offering to buy him something but won't actually give something big enough to help. Simply writing these feelings and thoughts down is making me feel a little vulnerable, but something tells me I'm not the only one who feels this way. It seems like such a different world, life on the streets. I don't know how to relate to that life, to the person who sits outside the grocery store. Maybe that's okay though, because it doesn't mean I can't do something for that person. So I did just that, said hi to the man, asked him how his day was going and if I could get him something from the store. He requested some vanilla yogurt, so that's what I got. On my way home I promised myself I would do this more often, as I feel it requires practice and continuous mindfulness, because it's so easy to simply ignore him, but it's equally easy to just buy him some vanilla yogurt.
Given that I feel random acts of kindness should be just that, random, I won't get into detail about the other shenanigans I got up to - donuts might have been involved at some point. But should you want some ideas for yourself, take a look here:
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