Acts Of Kindness

Elixir of Happiness

send an email to your first grade teacher

6^th of October, 2017

while I was writing the email to my former teacher and school supervisor, who knows me since I was in 1st grade till what I am today. I have realized what a great impact she had in me and how I changed drastically because of her. How Mrs.Jouhaida's presence in my life has changed me from being the shy, sensitive girl to what I can say a persistent, extroverted person that I am today. 

writing her the email with no special occasion gave me a great sense of satisfaction.

I am really thankful for this act of kindness that gave me the opportunity to express my emotions and it proved to me how sometimes we get caught in life and forget to show how we truly feel about a person. It reminded me to compliment, encourage, support and to always express my emotions whenever I have the capability to do so!

Helping janitors 

27^th of October, 2017

10:32 PM

 I kept thinking to myself, how can I help Janitors on the streets? I know there could be millions of ways to do that, but I wanted something sincere.

Until my mom suggested,”Njood, why don’t you buy recharging vouchers for their SIM cards? In this way, they can contact their family.” I felt like it was a brilliant idea, to the extent that I couldn’t wait till tomorrow. Unfortunately, I only had Mobily vouchers, and it was the only telecom company I found, being sold in the bookstore.

 Even though it was within less than an hour, I can say it will affect me for a lifetime. Then we started our hunt, searching for janitors and distributing vouchers. The moments were so emotional, to me at least. We met janitors and I found out that Mobily is not common among them, in contrast of what we thought :( but we gave them cash instead. What affected me the most was when we met a janitor and he didn’t even owned a phone! Imagine!

It made me acknowledge sometimes, simple things you own and consider normal, for others is a fortune. I felt I'm really fortunate. Thank Allah for all the innumerable offerings.

Buy an ice cream for a kid
19th October 2017
8:01 PM
Well, in my case the ice cream wasn’t for a kid, as it was supposed to be. It was for our beloved housemaids.

At first, my intent wasn’t to buy them ice cream, it came as a coincidence!

While I was ordering food for my sisters, the idea came to me; to surprise them with a cool ice cream under our burning sun, even though it was at night and it wasn’t actually burning, but still. 

They were really surprised and loved it! Their reaction filled me with happiness.  Simple gests make people really happy, especially when they are not expecting it. They told me that night," It was the best ending for an exhausting day!" :D

Pay for someone's meal at a restaurant

19th of October, 2017 
around 2-4 PM

This act of kindness made me acknowledge that it has been a looong time since I met with someone. So in the day before, I asked my friends if they would like to have lunch after school, and happily they were more than pleased! 

Accordingly, we met after school and went to a restaurant, well when the check came we had the fight with whom is paying and it ended up to us splitting it. But it did not stop here, I insisted on going to a Cafe.

Well , I paid discreetly and they got mad, but then they paid for the next thing, and me doing that resulted many rounds at different places, which created miraculous moments. 

But what I acknowledged is that just simply reading this act of kindness resulted in reuniting with my very close friends that truly make me happy, and whom I enjoy my time with.

offer any kind of help to someone who needs it badly

19th of October, 2017 

I was very pleased to know that one of my closest friends was applying for a competition that I had won before.

When she asked for help I was so pleased.

I felt like I have the responsibility to help her with whatever I can offer. 

Helping her gave me a great sense of satisfaction and gratification!

Distribute stickers to kids and watch their amusement 

Sunday, 15th of October, 2017 

9:50 AM

Earlier today, I brought stickers to distribute them to the children in the kindergarten, mainly to fulfill my task. 

When I told my friends about what I was going to do, they were really excited and wanted to come and distribute with me. We knocked the door of one of the classes and asked the teacher if we could give them stickers, in contrast of what we thought, she was more than happy and encouraged us to come in! 

The children’s eyes were startled with joy.

We tried to make it personal by letting them choose the sticker and even multiple stickers, and stick them on their uniform, faces, and wherever they could put it. Their reaction was priceless, how something so simple and very affordable, that we count as nothing. Was everything to them. Who even thought that these colorful, small stickers, would leave a smile that big, and an impression that beautiful. Their reaction’s rejoiced us, filled us with a great sense of satisfaction and happiness.

We took it to a broader perspective, we started distributing to whoever we saw. Yes, there were some people who shot us with what-on-God’s-green-earth-are-you-doing look. But! There were people who loved it, and were very happy.

 As simple as the activity was, and despite my first intent, it truly proved to me that “the more you give, the more you get.” And it made me acknowledge that making people happy costs nothing, but it’s effect costs everything!

send anonymous cheer up email to a stranger

27th of October, 2017 

Lubna AlKhamis is one of the most amazing influencers on Social Media. She works in the ministry of Happiness in Dubai. 

During the time when famous people offered empty content, she offered purposeful content simply, through her snapchat and podcast.

She enriches and inspires thousands of people every day, including me.

Therefore, I sent her a direct message on Snapchat, describing how much she has inspired and affected me. Surprisingly, within less than 15 minutes, she replied!  We had a great small talk and she ended it with saying, “If you need anything please consider me your older sister, and you can ask me any questions about self -improvement.” Her words didn’t just made my day, but my month! 

Taking minutes to write to her my truthful feelings about her resulted much more to me than I have expected! She truly taught me and reaffirmed Jim Rohn’s saying,”only by giving are you able to receive more than you already have.”

listen empatheticaly to someone having a blue day

24th of October, 2017

 I saw our Housemaid mad, which was not like her. She always had a bright smile even in the bad days.

I started a conversation,” Hello Hiron! how are you?” She explained disappointingly that she was upset of her family, because they only contacted her when she received her salary, how it’s as if they are using her. She continued expressing her feelings to me, and I kept listening empathetically. After that, I told her,” inshallah everything will be fine, and it will be as it is supposed to be.” 

And she smiled back to me. 

Sometimes, people just need an ear that will listen to them, and assures them that everything after God’s will be fine~

 Donate your own clothes and deliver them to the needy

12th October, 2017

When I read this act of kindness, it reminded me that it has been such a long time since I last donated my old clothes. Therefore, I opened my wardrobe and I realized that I have a lot of clothes, to the extent I forgot that I owned some of them! 

Which made me feel bad about my self. But also, persisted me even more to donate. 

The beautiful thing is, by doing that, I inspired my other siblings to give away their clothes. So we organized the clothes and fitted them in boxes to give who needs them!

Unfortunately, I couldn’t give them personally and see their countenances while receiving them. 

But the feeling itself covered for everything!

choose your own act of kindness

19th of October 2017
21st of October 2017

I have realized that I haven’t actually surprised my siblings through all the time we lived together. So, I ordered drinks and breakfast from Starbucks to surprise them with! Even though it was a very simple act, they started to appreciate and love me more. I felt more encouraged to constantly surprise them with different acts!