Thr Way Acts of Kindness Can Change Our Lives

There are some random acts that we do in our everyday life, which don’t benefit us directly, but we do them for others. To make the ones around us happy, which in returns makes us happy. Those random acts may include giving a homeless person, some food or clothes. There are times when we just sit and listen to someone, who is going through something hard. Or volunteer to work to help children with special needs. We do these random acts of kindness, not because we want something in return from these people but because being there for someone or helping them makes us feel content and happy.

Yesterday morning when I went out in my backyard. I saw an owl being attacked by some crows. I scared the crows away but the owl was injured and it was unable to fly away. I picked up the owl, gave him some water and food and placed him in a cage so that his injuries could heal. Today I freed him from the cage, he was all healed up and was able to fly away. I helped the owl from the kindness of my heart. There was nothing that I wanted in return from that owl. All I want for the owl was to find its way back home. Helping that owl from the crows and giving him water and food so that he could heal felt good, and when that owl flew away it made me really happy. Just thinking about that owl finding its way back home makes me feel even happier. I did something good, I helped an owl. It may not seem like a big act to someone else, but for me that single act meant a lot. The feeling of happiness from this act lingered all day.

Today when I got home late. I was exhausted and all I wanted to do was find my way to my bed and sleep, but my sister-in-law was sick. So I told her to rest while I took care of her son. I played with him and I fed him. Feeding him was a really hard task. He even bit me when I was feeding him. I changed him and rocked him until he fell asleep. He’s naughty and mischievous kid but I love him nonetheless. It was a long day but a good one.

In one of my courses, there was a poster assignment in which we had to get the poster printed. A hostel resident was having a hard time and couldn’t go and get the poster printed. So I told her I’ll get her poster printed as well. Thinking about it makes me realize that, it was not a hard task since I was already going to get my poster printed. So helping someone else along the way felt nice.

One of my friend is going through a really hard time, so today I talked to her, listened to what she wanted to say and then gave her my advice. I told her how she could handle the situation and to look forward to the good things coming her way. I told her not to look at the bad things and get scared but to look forward to the good thing coming her way. Although she said that talking to me helped her, I really hope that things get easier for her.

Yesterday I was sitting with my friends and I had an eye contact with a girl sitting near us, I just gave her a simple friendly smile. She smiled and waved at me. At that I waved back. The funny thing was that I didn’t know her and she didn’t know me. But that random act made her smile and it made me smile to.

A friend of mine was very sad today. She was missing her brother immensely. Her brother died in an road accident this very year. I didn’t know what to say to her or what to do so I just gave her a hug. Looking at someone whose sad, makes me sad. Helping them and making them smile, makes me feel like decent human. Making one person smile motivates me to help another person and make them smile.

Helping people for no other reason then to just make someone’s life a bit easier or to help them get through a rough time doesn’t exactly benefit me in any way. I was there for these because helping them makes me feel good and content. Each act of kindness no matter how small, it boosted my level of happiness. A single act of kindness makes me feel good for a very long time.

It doesn’t matter how small or big an act of kindness is, it boosts my level of happiness. Helping someone no matter how small it is, it automatically makes me feel happy and good. The fact that I was able to help someone or that I made someone smile brings a smile on my face. Whenever I go out with my friends. We pack all the leftover food and give it to some homeless person we come across on the way back. There is a possibility that the homeless person had nothing to eat and being able to provide him with that basic necessity makes me feel proud of myself and my friends. This small act that we did, took no time and effort. Instead of letting that food go to waste we gave to someone who deserved it.

All these kind acts made me think of things from a different perspective. If one person helps someone, there is a chance that, that person will help someone else in the future. Thus it starts a chain of kind acts in the society. Wouldn’t that make the society a better place to live in? It doesn’t matter how small the act of kindness is, it makes us feel pleased. It made me think of another thing, that these acts of kindness didn’t just benefit them but it also helped me. I gave these people something they didn’t have. I helped them and that made me feel good about myself. It made me think of myself as a good person. There are various acts of kindness that we do and we are not even aware of them, like giving a thirsty person water, or letting someone else stand in the line before us because they are in a hurry.

Kindness comes with empathy and acceptance. Kindness arises when we are able to understand where the other person is coming from. Kindness starts when we accept that the other person can also be having a bad day, even worse than us. So if things go wrong, shouting at the other person won’t make things better, instead take a deep breath and calmly deal with the situation. Kindness is in the compassion when you are helping someone. Knowing the right and wrong in our and life and helping other according to it. Understanding the good and bad in others and helping them accordingly with respect to our own needs. Kindness is a wonderful and beautiful quality. Which can bring you peace and content.   

Works Cited:

1. Ali, A. S. (2015). Jordan: A brief overview of its history, society, and culture. The Independent Review, 20(1), 91-101.
2. Berry, J. W. (2005). Acculturation: Living successfully in two cultures. International Journal of Intercultural Relations, 29(6), 697-712.
3. Brown, L. M., & Eynon, B. (2013). Shaping the future of international education: The United States as a study destination of choice for the world. Journal of Studies in International Education, 17(5), 411-432.
4. Gudykunst, W. B., & Ting-Toomey, S. (1988). Culture and interpersonal communication. Sage Publications.
5. Kim, Y. Y. (2001). Becoming intercultural: An integrative theory of communication and cross-cultural adaptation. Sage Publications.
6. Oberg, K. (1960). Cultural shock: Adjustment to new cultural environments. Practical Anthropology, 7(4), 177-182.
7. Salzman, P. C., & Salzman, J. C. (1996). Encyclopedia of African-American culture and history: The Black experience in the Americas. Macmillan Library Reference.
8. Schumann, D. A. (1978). The acculturation model for second language acquisition. In R. C. Gingras (Ed.), Second language acquisition and foreign language teaching (pp. 27-50). Center for Applied Linguistics.
9. Ward, C., & Kennedy, A. (1993). Psychological and socio-cultural adjustment during cross-cultural transitions: A comparison of secondary students overseas and at home. International Journal of Psychology, 28(2), 129-147.
10. Yeh, C. J., & Inose, M. (2003). International students' reported English fluency, social support satisfaction, and social connectedness as predictors of acculturative stress. Counselling Psychology Quarterly, 16(1), 15-28.