I’m not sure where to start here. It is such an exciting topic! I feel like a kid in a candy store! Do I talk about how making my own Kindness Mission makes me feel? Do I talk about how I can’t wait to get it out there into the community? Do I talk about where the idea came from? What people might think of it? What I think people might think of it?

Take What You Need

Ok…I will get to all those things…but I guess I aught to start at the beginning.

Where the idea came from…

For many years I have enjoyed the lovely and uplifting work of Kelly Rae Roberts. You think you don’t know who she is, but I’ll bet you do. Look here and you will recognize her work. You see it in gift shops and boutiques all over. I happen to find her an abundant source of inspiration and therefor began following her photos on Instagram. 

This is where I saw her amazing idea for a Kindness Mission! This discovery happened somewhere around a week ago, and it never left my mind…or my heart! I won’t begin to go on about how the world is a tough place to hang your hat sometimes…because boy, is it! But with this Kindness Mission, what a simple, yet profound, way to reach people with a glimmer of hope and a smile?

What is this Kindness Mission, anyway…?

You know those papers that people stick up on community boards that advertise something for sale or a service being offered? And then there are tear-off  strips along the bottom of the page that contain contact information for said item or service? That is what this is based on! I believe that every last person who will stroll into my Starbucks store, waltz into the library or drop their car off at the shop for clean oil is in need of at least one of the items listed for the taking on the Kindness Mission.

Kind words: Love, Grace, Forgiveness, Peace, Rest, Strength, Acceptance, Laughter, Faith, Happiness, Patience

I decided I had to do it myself…

I’ve been saying it a lot lately, that I think I’m coming back to my hippie roots. This is happy for me. But let me think about what that really means. All I can say is that when I was in late high school/early college, I was quite the promoter of love and peace. I was the one with the sticker on my car that read, Mean People Suck. I was certain the best solution to the hole-in-the-ozone- problem could be remedied by collecting all the mean people in the world and sticking them up there to fill it! I’m not saying that my point of view was something profoundly interesting or unique…I just happened to be in agreement with all the others out there who felt like life wasn’t mean to be lived to the fullest while standing among a bunch of meanies! OK, moving on…

Throughout this last week, I haven’t been able to shake my curiosity of what would happen if I actually made my own Kindness Mission, stuck it around town, and watched to see if people used it!

Execution…

If I waited any longer, I might have burst! So, it was during the boy’s quiet time yesterday that I went to Chris and asked him if he could help me with a little project I had in mind. Oh silly me for imagining for one moment that I could figure out on my own on my tiny computer how to make it as lovely as it turned out!

We sat together for only a half-hour’s time and I can’t help but think that he was into it as well! We were a team of kindness!

And, when I found out that I could order copies and pick them up from the printer before dinner that same day…well, it was a happiest day, indeed!

I feel…

As Chris and I put our brains together…my ideas of pictures and font and overall feel and his tech expertise…my excitement about this project was over the top! And, then, a crazy and unexpected thing happened! I became emotional! (Haha! I know…if you know me, your thinking that my being emotional is not at all crazy or unexpected!).

I might be able to explain my feelings like this: Lately, I can’t help but feel like I was put on this planet  to not only be the best mom to my boys that I can be as well as the most wonderful wife to my husband, but something more. Maybe it is to be an advocate for pushing good juju and promoting love and awareness to one another. If enough of us share a smile, hug, kind word, happy story, compliment,etc…can’t that be addicting? Its like the concept of paying it forward. Not at all new…just maybe something that needs to be happening a lot more in a time when much division and uncertainty is upon us.

I’ve said it before and I will say it again, going back to this state of mind and being for me feels right. I don’t think I ever lost it, but there were many things, perhaps, that I had to get figured out in my life first before I was able to clearly see it again. And, if it feels right, then it can’t be wrong-right? 🙂

If I Build It, Will they Come?

I will place my first Kindness Mission out tonight when I get to work. I will put it right up on our community board and watch what happens. I can’t wait! And, unless they see me put it there, I won’t have them know it was me.

Will people take a tear-off piece right away? Will they be nervous? Will they not want to be the first one? Oh, don’t worry, I will get back to you on how it’s going after a few days or a week.

Thanks again to the sweet and inspiring Kelly Rae Roberts for sharing her idea and vision with the rest of us! If you are so inspired, why not start it in your own community?

Spread the love, my friends! Only good can come of it!