Secret Agent of Kindness

Hi Friends,


It's been a really busy week. Like usual. But this one has given me surprisingly no free time. No card making, no blogging, nothing! I do have all weekend off so I'm going to be very creatively-productive on my business hopefully. :)


So what I really wanted to share was the one thing that made me genuinely happy and smiley today. I was inspired by an article I read several weeks ago on CNN.com. This woman decided to be a "secret agent of kindness" in her spare time. She now has tons of "affiliated agents of kindness" all over the country and world. Read about her amazing story here: Agent L. I decided immediately that I could do this. I don't feel the need to become "affiliated" through her or anything, but the idea is great. And reading all the stories on her blog just makes you feel great.


We subscribe to The Daily through Crossroads. Every morning they send you a verse (or two) to read, pick it apart and then have a follow up reading if you want to read more about the topic. Yesterday's take-away was to be generous to other people. Today's was to think of a positive thought for every negative (I worked really hard on that today but I'm afraid the negative still took over :-/). So between the two days I was really feeling like it was time for me to leave my first kindness gift for someone. I was nervous about it this morning while I was writing on the card in my cube. What do you say to a potential complete stranger you will never meet? Here's the outside of my card:

Part of this is two-fold too. As you can see, I included one of my little business cards, I of course made the card, and it's stamped with my special stamp on the back. But honestly, more than getting my name out there, I really want to make someone smile. I feel like the people who will receive these will be the people who need them. So on the inside I wrote that I hoped they had a good day today. And that it was almost the weekend so they just had to get through tomorrow. And that I hoped they got a chance to enjoy the nice weather some time this weekend. Then I had to think about how to address the envelope. That was tricky, and I think I've learned some things to do differently tomorrow (Yes! I'm planning one for tomorrow too!). Here's the outside: 

                                             

                   

It says "To: You!! (Yes, you who are reading this right now)." And then I had to think about where to put it. On Agent L's blog, people will kind of sit down somewhere, and get up and leave it and just walk away. So I decided to do that too. I had to go to Cheesecake right after work today so I didn't have time between jobs to do anything creative really. But there are benches in the mall right outside the restaurant. So I decided to leave it there. And if we got busy (ha ha I know) some people might wait out there. So I sat down on the bench and put it next to me in the corner. Now is probably the time to mention that all day today I wanted a Twix bar. I just NEEDED chocolate. And only had sixty cents in my purse. :( So no Twix for me. But at the very end of the day I remembered I had my change purse on me for work. So I went to get myself a Twix. And immediately realized I should give it to whomever received my card. *sigh* But I felt that was only right because Agent L always leaves little gifts with her cards. So here's everything ready to go on the bench next to me: 

                                                                        

And then I just got up and walked away! Well, practically ran. I could just see my very first time someone yelling after me, "M'am you forgot something!" hah. Not smooth. And then I realized I was just BEAMING. And my heart was racing and I was so excited. I wanted to keep peeking to see if anyone had taken it yet, but refrained. Ideally you just walk away and don't look back. So I was just so excited--and then about 10 minutes later Ryan, who works the front desk, walked over holding the card hahahahhaah. Someone had turned it in hahahahah. I honestly figured there was a really great chance that would happen. But I didn't want to leave chocolate on someone's windshield in 85 degree weather so the mall was my only option. So he said he recognized the logo (that's progress right?) and business card. And that the guy at table 111 had turned it in in case someone in the restaurant was looking for it. FAIL.

So Ryan wanted to know what to do with it. I said well, he could keep it if he wanted. Or, he could go give it back to the guy and tell him he was apparently meant to find it and should keep it. He said that another girl working at the front desk really wanted the Twix and they really liked the card. So I said well give it to her if she wants it. Maybe she's supposed to have it today. So it was nice to have some positive feedback and she was very appreciative and smiley.

So lessons learned: Hide the gift under the card addressed to a stranger. Make the "to" part big and bright so there's no mistaking that it's for the person who finds it. Leave it somewhere where you will be legitimately walking away. 

Tomorrow, I have to mail some things at the post office. That can often (okay, always) be a very stressful place, so I'm going to leave something on someone's car when I leave. I'm really excited about this one. 

I think everyone should do something like this! It's such a great thing to do. And easy. And cheap. And I really do believe that the people who are meant to find these things will. So when I put something out there in the universe, it will connect with the person that will get the most out of it on that particular day. 

I hope you all have had wonderful, stress-free days and that you have great plans for the weekend! To leave you for this evening, here's Phineas, who has been extremely jealous since Vivienne's blog debut a couple posts ago: 

                                                        
                         

Goodnight!