28 Comments

Love these. All of them brought a smile. The power of kindness!

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Your writing is always kind and thoughtful. I so enjoy reading. I also love that you're offering your Zoom calls to help encourage others to find/walk their path.

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And we love that you have kindness at the heart of your purpose. Kindred spirits.

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I loved every part of this post, but the part that made me giddy with glee was the Irish jig.

In terms of giving back, I have arranged to conduct 4 sessions with very senior seniors (ages between 88 and 95) where we discuss a few ideas from Hannah and Alfred, and then I will encourage those who want to write a few thoughts (or they might dictate to me). I have some good prompts for the first two sessions. I will report back. In the past, I have heard from this group who I've worked with before that the most appreciative of this were their kids and grandkids, but whatever I've helped to maybe give them, they have given me many times over.

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What a wonderful idea, Jill. I'll look forward to reading about these sessions with your senior seniors. Bet they'll have some excellent thoughts.

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Will gladly share

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Feb 13Liked by Heather Brebaugh

Thanks for all the lovely examples of random acts of kindness.

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Thanks for reading, Joyce. Much appreciated.

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Feb 13Liked by Heather Brebaugh

I LOVE how everyone on that flight seemed to know the words to the song!

And I really love what Bryan is doing. I've always dreamed of doing kind things on a large scale but alas...that tales money! I do small stuff like pay for the person behind me in a drive-thru. It makes me feel good to make someone else's day.

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In the short time that we've been Substack friends (is that like FB friends lol), I can already tell that you are a kind person. And you are sooo right. It does make us feel good to make someone else's day. Even those silly small things, like smiling at someone in line or holding the door for someone count!

PS - I loved that Irish fiddle too. What a fun, spontaneous gesture of kindness! And that girl was really good at Irish dancing - wow!

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Feb 13Liked by Heather Brebaugh

I try to be kind at all times because I know exactly how it impacts me when I receive it. It's such a simple concept yet people have such a hard time passing it on!

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Feb 13Liked by Heather Brebaugh

Thanks for the inspiration, Heather! Great stories. I downloaded the RAK bingo. I can do THREE of those things today! Happy week to you!

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WooHoo. You're off to a great Bingo start!

Happy week to you too!

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What wonderful stories. Thx for sharing. I try to be kind always. I wish the grumpy folks knew that it actually takes a lot more energy to be angry or mean than it does to be nice and helpful.

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You're soooo right! Plus the benefits of being kind far outweigh anything achieved by being grumpy. Hmmm, maybe I need to do some research on those benefits...

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Yay Heather. Great stories, good people.

I was so impressed, I’ve decided to commit no crimes for the next 30 days. If I succeed, I’ll role it over for the next 30 days and so forth.

We need to start where we are.

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Well, you will be hiking around on the Pacific Trail, so I'd say your chances of success are high. 🤣

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Feb 14·edited Feb 14Liked by Heather Brebaugh

I pledge not to steal anyone’s stash of Snickers. That’s a biggie right there. And I will also try not to split any infinitives, even if it really doesn’t apply to English because it’s a Latin thing, but I have two English professors who read my scribbles and for them it’s a big time crime.

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Also, I won’t throw cold water on Bear to wake him up in the morning. Water is too precious. I’ll just set his tent on fire instead.

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So kind of you...

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I bought three books for my Old Guy today. That’s something.

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Now that sounds more like you.📚

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Feb 13Liked by Heather Brebaugh

I'd say considering that there are billions of people, not to mention animals that we share this planet with, I'd venture to say that there are many thousands of random acts of kindness happening as I type this. I just can't wait until reports of those fine acts replace all the negativity we're inundated with. Thanks Heather, unfortunately I read too much news today, so I especially needed the boost of all of the above neurotransmitters.

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Ah yes, the news. The Good News Network focuses solely on reporting good news. I enjoy reading it each week. We humans have a 'negativity bias' which the media uses to their advantage. Ratzlefratz.

I have this feeling that if we could begin to have considerate and respectful communication we could start to shift the tide.

You're obviously very thoughtful. I would love your ideas on how to move the needle.

Thanks for reading, Mark.

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Feb 14Liked by Heather Brebaugh

You're so right about the "negativity bias." It's automatically reinforced at least on my algorithm-generated news feed - in part because I want to stay up with what's happening. I'm always hoping to find a turn toward compassion and justice. You've reminded me that I'm partially responsible for the negative feed I'm exposed to. If I googled considerably more positive subjects, as opposed to fact-checking news, my "automatic" news feed would probably change for the better.

Regarding the "moving the needle," my thoughts on that have started to overflow onto "paper" - stay tuned.

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curiosity piqued...

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Thank you for this! I wish there was a RAK news segment on ALL news stations because it seems like they only prefer to report the negative shit.

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Yes, that would be fantastic. A 30 minute segment, with just 2 minutes for the rest haha.

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