Thursday, February 08, 2007

habitude february - random acts of kindness

our lovely abbess has decreed that february is random acts of kindness and free love giveaway month. i have made a commitment to engage in this habitude, and because i almost forgot it began today i have decided that i am going to daily track my 28 days of habitude-ness here:

1- i made a poster for the woman in apartment #1 that reminded her of all of the amazing things about her and what an incredible woman she is and stuck it to her front door. i knew she'd come home from work tonight needing encouragement as we have our first OA meeting tonight and if she's as weird about this as i am every little bit will help.
2- baked my family a lovely apple pie for dessert tonight.
3- took a nap (this is harder to do daily than i thought it would be) - i took a nap for the sake of my family. i was so crabby and nasty.
4- sat and shared stories with a hurting student at the university after church. he told me that a comment i made during the discussion part of the teaching time at church the week before gave him the freedom to talk to me and not feel so alone.
5- went with liam on a day trip for work he needed to make. we spent a wonderful day away together.
6-became the contact person/representative/secretary and whatever else you'd call it for our new OA group we've started here. i designed a website, posters, press releases and have contacted all of the media in our little burg here. i avoided starting a group last year for this very reason, but have realized that i am the one with the most time and nobody else has come along (yet - but it's their's as soon as they do!). this was as much for myself as it is for the community.
7-made whole wheat raisin tea biscuits for pink's class yesterday. people usually bring in yogo's or fruit snacks, but i thought warm biscuits might be a bit more homey on a cold winters day. and i know pink sure did appreciate it. she even asked me 'so mom, is this your random act of kindness for today?? :)
8-we had a shower today for a women in our community who has just left a very broken marriage and is finally out on her own with her daughters. we had a kitchen shower and invited tons of church ladies to 'warm up' her house and fill it with all of the things we take for granted. while there i agreed to mentor her and her daughters. she came to the women's retreat we had last november and according to her best friend really resonated with my story. how could i say no?

UPDATE: i suck at this, big time. i didn't realize how hard it would be to try to do kind things creatively each day. i am kind and helpful (not to pat myself on the back, i just am) regularly, i'm just not very creative about it, and i've lost track and can't imagine that i'll really keep track of this any better than i have so far... but if i figure out anything spectacular i'll make sure to post it... sigh.

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yay february!

5 comments:

Sue said...

What a good plan! I hope that you believe that imitation is the fondest form of flattery because I just have to do this too.

Patchouli said...

And the kids are going to get their own poster

Anonymous said...

lovely idea, bobbie!
judi

Sue said...

Is it bad that I find it strangely encouraging that you were having trouble by day 3 too. :)You're doing an awesome job btw, way to raise the bar!

bobbie said...

ha! yes sue - be encouraged - this is harder than it looks!

especially because i rarely leave the house! :)

i think that if i was out in the work world i'd have more creativity, but i'm really grasping at straws here somedays.