Best of the Best

Sochi 2014:

• 22:25
  "Olympic games is the sport fest for all humanity. Thank you for supporting the sportsmen, they are the best representatives of your county, they are the best of the best," said Bach

Glasses for Poor Kids - recycled glasses

One Sight Charity:
 
   http://www.lenscrafters.com/onesight

60 Ways to "Pay It Forward" - Good Ones

So go ahead and make the words, “How can I help?” part of your everyday vocabulary.  Start today; choose one of these 60 selfless ways to pay it forward.

1. Hold the door open for the person behind you.
2. Introduce yourself.  Make new colleagues, classmates, etc. feel welcome.
3. Clean out all your old clothes and donate them to someone in need.  Your old is someone else’s new.
4. Write a positive Yelp review about a local business you like.
5. Listen intently to people’s stories without trying to fix everything.
6. Donate blood.  One pint of blood can save up to three lives.  Locate your nearest blood drive.
7. Volunteer at a hospital, homeless shelter, nursing home, etc.  Get outsideof yourself and help others.  Check out Volunteer Match.
8. Buy house warming gifts for new neighbors.
9. Inspire others online.
10. Share your umbrella with a stranger on a rainy day.
11. Check up on someone who looks lonely.
12. Let someone with only a few items cut you in line at the grocery store.
13. Spread good news.
14. Replace what you’ve used.  For example, fill up the copier or printer with paper after you’re done using it or start a fresh batch of coffee.
15. Give words of encouragement to someone about their dreams, no matter how big or small they are.
16. Stop and buy a drink from a kid’s lemonade stand.
17. Help someone get your parking space in a crowded parking lot when you’re leaving.
18. Babysit for couples or single parents who don’t get out much so they can have some alone time.
19. Look for ways to save a few extra bucks a month and then donate it to a good cause or charity.
20. Shop at your local charity thrift store.  The money you spend there helps others.
21. Help someone get active.  There’s a coworker or acquaintance in your life who wants to get healthy, but needs a helping hand.  Offer to go walking or running together or join a gym together.  Check out your local Activeactivities.
22. Spend a few clicks of your time at Free Rice.
23. If someone you love really likes something (a meal, a favor, etc.) give it to them when they least expect it.
24. Make a difference in the life of a child. Give them your time and undivided attention.  Read Raising Kids Who Will Make a Difference.
25. If you shop online, make your purchase through Give Back America.
26. Pay for the person in line behind you.
27. Drop off your old eye glasses at your local LensCrafters as a donation to the OneSight program.
28. Create a care package and send it to an active duty military unit.
29. Redirect gifts.  Instead of having people give you birthday and holiday gifts, ask them to donate gifts or money to a good cause.
30. The next time you see someone pulled over with a flat tire, or in need of assistance, stop and ask how you can help.  Read How to Be an Everyday Philanthropist.
31. Become a mentor or tutor to someone in need.
32. Help the weary shopper in front of you who needs that extra two or three cents to avoid breaking a 20-dollar bill.
33. Come to the rescue.  If you realize someone is sick, bring them some hot tea, soup, etc.
34. Be a courteous driver.  Let people merge in front of you.
35. Put some change in an expired parking meter (where it’s legal).
36. Offer your seat to someone when there aren’t any left.
37. Listen to someone’s pain and help them find a path through it.
38. Hug a friend.  Let them know how important they are.
39. Think twice before you throw something away.  As Jack Johnson once said, “Reduce, reuse, and recycle.”
40. Help an entrepreneur with a Kiva donation.
41. Bake cookies or brownies and share with a neighbor or colleagues.
42. If you have a good book you’ve read that’s just sitting around on a book shelf, give it away to a friend.
43. Become a member of Freecycle, and participate.
44. Clean up litter in a park or open space nearby.
45. Look into co-housing.
46. Borrow and lend things in your neighborhood by using Share Some Sugar.
47. Send a nice email or handwritten card to someone you know, unexpectedly.
48. Leave encouraging post-it notes in library books and other random places.
49. If you see a couple taking a self-pic, offer to take the picture for them.
50. Setup a donation box at your school, work or place of worship and ask others to make canned/dried food contributions.  Then deliver the donations accordingly.
51. Join efforts to preserve and protect the environment.
52. Donate cat and dog food to an animal shelter.  Call and ask what is needed.
53. Compliment someone who deserves it.
54. If there’s been an accident or a potentially hazardous situation presents itself on the road, report it to the local authorities.  Your phone call could save a life.
55. Collect and donate prom dresses for underprivileged youth.  Check out the Princess Project.
56. When you’re getting fast food, buy an extra meal for a homeless person.
57. Stand up for someone.  Lend your voice. Often the powerless, the homeless, the neglected in our world need someone to speak up for them.
58. Take the time to teach someone a skill you know.
59. Teach others how to make a difference in this world by setting a good example every day.  Read 29 Gifts: How a Month of Giving Can Change Your Life.
60. When someone wants to repay you for something, ask them to pay it forward.

Volunteer Match: listings of volunteer oppurtunities

http://www.volunteermatch.org/

Pay It Forward - Ideas

http://thehalfwaypoint.net/2009/09/50-simple-ways-to-pay-it-forward/

IN PRACTICE

Kindness, like a boomerang, always returns.  ~Author Unknown

I have learned from experience that when we commit an act of kindness for others, for strangers, it’s only a matter of time before that kindness comes back to us.  Being kind is a gift that gives both to the giver and the receiver.  Call it “what goes around comes around”.  I don’t even think we need to learn or listen to or engage in all this talk of universal laws and the law of cause and effect, the law of attraction, etc. 

I propose something simpler and more direct: how about we see for ourselves through practice?

So, what little, simple acts of kindness can we do to pay it forward today?

1. put a quarter in a meter, any meter, that’s about to expire
2. leave a copy of a really great book you’ve read in a cafe for someone else to enjoy
3. be nice to the customer service people who are trying to help you with your technological difficulties
4. tip your restaurant server generously
5. thank the cooks, waitstaff and bussers personally
6. say something nice or funny or goofy to the toll booth attendant (like, “Don’t drive too fast, now” or “Glad to have encountered you today”, or something less hokey)
7. forgive a driver directing road rage at you
8. buy or pack a meal for a homeless person (or give him/her your to-go box from a restaurant)
9. give a warm coat to a homeless person
10. offer to do pro bono work on a project where your skills are needed
11. mentor someone
12. make a donation
13. say a prayer or whisper a kind wish for someone
14. compliment a stranger
15. send a box of donuts or bagels or muffins to a construction site
16. next time you leave a foreign country, give all or some of what’s left of your currency to someone who resides in that country
17. next time you’re at the airport, offer to pull the bags belonging to a woman or a mother with child out of the conveyor belt
18. praise generously
19. give local tips (re: restaurants, sights, etc.) to a tourist
20. show respect equally to all human beings
21. put a tip in a street musician’s jar
22. let someone cut in front of you at the grocery store
23. tell a funny joke to a stranger
24. give someone a chance to prove him or herself
25. encourage someone to pursue their dream
26. allow someone to let his or her light shine
27. show support to an artist or writer or musician
28. hold the door open for someone
29. tip a cab driver generously
30. teach a child something you wish you knew at that age
31. smile at someone who’s sad
32. smile at strangers
33. offer sincere, kind words to someone who’s hurting
34. visit a hospice and spend some time with a terminally ill patient
35. volunteer at a battered women’s shelter
36. spend some time with a senior citizen living alone
37. give up your seat on a crowded bus or train or ferry
38. inspire someone to be the best that they can be
39. give someone the benefit of the doubt
40. offer to babysit for a single mother
41. offer the FedEx, UPS or DHL delivery person something to drink especially on a warm day
42. help a pregnant lady
43. sit and talk with a homeless person and learn their story
44. loan something to someone and forget about it
45. loan money on Kiva
46. contribute to a friend’s child’s education fund
47. give blood
48. show respect to a soldier regardless of your pacifism
49. donate to or volunteer for the Make-A-Wish Foundation
50. replace an angry or bitter thought toward someone with a loving thought (or at least try)