{"id":718,"date":"2011-04-01T15:08:52","date_gmt":"2011-04-01T19:08:52","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/angelsonyourshoulder\/?p=718"},"modified":"2011-04-01T15:14:14","modified_gmt":"2011-04-01T19:14:14","slug":"fearless-friday-random-acts-of-kindness","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/angelsonyourshoulder\/2011\/04\/fearless-friday-random-acts-of-kindness.html","title":{"rendered":"Fearless Friday: random acts of kindness"},"content":{"rendered":"

Love or fear<\/strong><\/h3>\n

The best way I know to banish fear is to reach out in love. I have long been an advocate of random acts of kindness. One of the ways I look at all events in life is as an opportunity to deepen my connection with my spirit. I do that by seeing the blessings in everything. I can choose to deepen my connection to my filter system, judge, feel fear and see the world as a dangerous place.<\/p>\n

I think the results of each choice are obvious. When I deepen my connection with my spirit I feel good and add more love to the world. When I reaffirm my filter system I am uncomfortable, often miserable and pollute the world with my fear.<\/p>\n

Random acts of kindness: Japan earthquake and tsunami<\/strong><\/p>\n

I see the events in Japan as an opportunity for the world to come together as a loving, supportive community. Here are some stories of kindness that I got from the Charity Focus<\/a> blog.<\/p>\n

Someone overseas called me on my cell. She said she wanted to connect to anyone who is in Japan, and so she called the country code and their own mobile number, which happened to be the same as mine. I didn’t fully understand everything she said, because it was English, but I knew enough to know that she really wanted to support the Japanese people.\u00a0 It really gave me so much hope.<\/em><\/p>\n

<\/em><\/p>\n

Last night when I was walking home (since all traffic had stopped), I saw an old lady at a bakery shop.\u00a0 It was totally past their closing time, but she was giving out free bread.\u00a0 Even at times like this, people were trying to find what they can do and it made my heart warm.<\/em><\/p>\n

<\/em><\/p>\n

In the supermarket, where items of all the shelves fell, people were picking up things so neatly together, and then quietly stand in line to buy food. Instead of creating panic and buying as much as needed, they bought as little as they needed.\u00a0 I was proud to be a Japanese.<\/em><\/p>\n

<\/em><\/p>\n

When I was walking home, for 4 hours, there was a lady holding a sign that said, “Please use our toilet.”\u00a0 They were opening their house for people to go to the restroom. It was hard not to tear up, when I saw the warmth of people.<\/em><\/p>\n

<\/em><\/p>\n

At Disneyland, they were giving out candies. High school girls were taking so many so I was thinking, “What???”\u00a0 But then the next minute, they ran to the children in the evacuation place and handed it to them. That was a sweet gesture.<\/em><\/p>\n

<\/em><\/p>\n

My co-worker wanted to help somehow, even if it was just to one person.\u00a0 So he wrote a sign: “If you’re okay with motor cycle, I will drive you to your house.”\u00a0 He stood in the cold with that sign. And then I saw him take one gentleman home, all the way to Tokorozawa!\u00a0 I was so moved. I felt like I wanted to help others too.<\/em><\/p>\n

<\/em><\/p>\n

A high school boy was saved because he climbed up on top of the roof of a department store during the flood. The flood came so suddenly, that he just saw people below him, trying to frantically climb up the roof and being taken by the flood.\u00a0 To help others, he kept filming them so their loved ones could see.\u00a0 He still hasn’t been able to reach his own parents but he says, “Its nobody’s fault. There is no one to blame. We have to stay strong.”<\/em><\/p>\n

<\/em><\/p>\n

There is a lack of gas now and many gasoline stations are either closed or haave very loooong lines. I got worried, since I was behind 15 cars. Finally, when it was my turn, the man smiled and said, “Because of this situation, we are only giving $30 worth gas per each person. Is that alright?”\u00a0 “Of course its alright.\u00a0 I’m just glad that we are all able to share,” I said.\u00a0 His smile gave me so much relief.<\/em><\/p>\n

<\/em><\/p>\n

I saw a little boy thanking a public transit employee, saying, “Thank you so much for trying hard to run the train last night.”\u00a0 It brought tears to the employee’s eyes, and mine.<\/em><\/p>\n

<\/em><\/p>\n

A foreign friend told me that she was shocked to see a looong queue form so neatly behind one public phone. Everyone waited so patiently to use the phone even though everyone must have been so eager to call their families.<\/em><\/p>\n

<\/em><\/p>\n

The traffic was horrible!! Only one car can move forward at green light. But everyone was driving so calmly. During the 10 hour drive (which would only take 30 minutes normally) the only horns I heard was a horn of thank you. It was a fearful time — but then again a time of warmth and it made me love Japan more.<\/em><\/p>\n

<\/em><\/p>\n

When I was waiting at the platform, so tired and exhausted, a homeless person came to us and gave us a cardboard to sit on.\u00a0 Even though we usually ignore them in our daily life, they were ready to serve us.<\/em><\/p>\n

<\/em><\/p>\n

Suntory (a juice company) is giving out free drinks, phone companies are\u00a0 creating more wi-fi spots, 1,000,000 noodles were given by a food company, and everyone is trying to help the best way they can.\u00a0 We, too, have to stand up and do our best.<\/em><\/p>\n

<\/em><\/p>\n

Whenever there is a black out, people are working hard to fix it. Whenever the water stops, there are people working to fix that too.\u00a0 And when there is problem with nuclear energy, there are people trying to fix that too. It doesn’t just fix itself.\u00a0 While we are waiting to regain the heat in the cool temperature or have running water, there were people risking their life to fix it for us.<\/em><\/p>\n

<\/em><\/p>\n

An old woman said, on a train: “Blackouts are no problem for me.\u00a0 I am used to saving electricity for this country, and turning off lights. At least, this time we don’t have bombs flying over our heads.\u00a0 I’m willing to happy to shut off my electricity!” Everyone around couldn’t say a word in response.<\/em><\/p>\n

<\/em><\/p>\n

When I grow older, I am going to tell my children and grandchildren, “When your grandma was young, there was a big earth quake in Japan which brought the world to one. And everyone worked so hard to help support each other and everyone was shining.\u00a0 To be able to tell that story, I’m going to work hard in rebuilding that work.<\/em><\/p>\n

In one area, when the electricity returned, peopel rejoiced.\u00a0 And then someone yelled: “We got electricity because someone else probably conserved theirs!\u00a0 Thank you so much to EVERYONE who saved electricity for us.\u00a0 Thank you everyone!”<\/em><\/p>\n

In Korea, a Japanese man got a cab ride and when it was time to pay, the driver refused and said: “You are Japanese, yes?”\u00a0 Yes.\u00a0 “When you go back to Japan, please donate the fee.” Beyond nationality or politics, we are all the same.<\/em><\/p>\n

My 10-year-old son, with tears in his eyes, handed his piggy bank to me, saying: “I don\u2019t care if I cant buy my comic books, I want to save japan!!”<\/em><\/p>\n

I told my parents, who are living at the evacuation center, to come to Chiba where I live. And they got mad at me. My Dad said, “There are people who sustained far more damage than us, and they are not leaving. We certainly can’t leave!\u00a0 I will come to your place when we finish reconstruction here. So you do what you can from where you are.”<\/em><\/p>\n

I saw a man at the evacuation center crying when people brought food to him. It was the first time in 3 days that the food was brought to their center. But his next words surprised me. “I am very grateful that we are provided with food. But, but, the city next to us they are not receiving any food at all. Please go to that center as well.”<\/em><\/p>\n

<\/em><\/p>\n

An old man at the evacuation shelter said, “What’s going to happen now?”\u00a0 And then a young high school boy sitting next to him said, “Don\u2019t worry!\u00a0 When we grow up, we will promise to fix it back!”\u00a0 While saying this, he was rubbing the old man’s back. And when I was listening to that conversation, I felt hope. There is a bright future, on the other side of this crisis.<\/em><\/p>\n

What small thing can you do to make the world a better place today?<\/h3>\n

Today do something for someone else.
\nWhile standing on line for coffee buy one for the person behind\u00a0 you.
\nSmile at a stranger
\nAsk a clerk how they are and really listen and care
\nFeed a homeless person
\nPick up some liter
\nLook in the mirror and say, \u201cI love you\u201d
\nPray for a stranger and send them an angel
\nAsk the angels for a suggestion on what to do<\/p>\n

Care to add some suggestions in the comment section? Wouldn\u2019t it be great if we started a wave of random acts of kindness!<\/p>\n

Read more Fearless Fridays:
\n<\/strong>\u2022 5 Ways Fear Can Improve Your Life<\/a>
\n\u2022 7 Ways to Overcome Fear<\/a>
\n\u2022 Inspirational Quotes on Fear<\/a>
\n\u2022 View all Fearless Fridays posts<\/a><\/p>\n

With love and aloha,
\nSusan<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

Angels are everywhere just open your mind and your heart to the signs.<\/p>\n

Make Angels on Your Shoulder<\/a> part of your daily routine and share it with a friend!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Love or fear The best way I know to banish fear is to reach out in love. I have long been an advocate of random acts of kindness. One of the ways I look at all events in life is as an opportunity to deepen my connection with my spirit. I do that by seeing…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,26,15,509,3,1,12,13,23,14],"tags":[29,31,41,60],"class_list":["post-718","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-angels","category-beliefs","category-fearless-fridays","category-gratitude-2","category-happiness","category-joy","category-kindness","category-love","category-magical-life","category-prayers","tag-angels-2","tag-fearless-friday","tag-prayers-2","tag-random-acts-of-kindness"],"yoast_head":"\nFearless Friday: random acts of kindness - Angels on Your Shoulder<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/angelsonyourshoulder\/2011\/04\/fearless-friday-random-acts-of-kindness.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Fearless Friday: random acts of kindness - Angels on Your Shoulder\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Love or fear The best way I know to banish fear is to reach out in love. I have long been an advocate of random acts of kindness. One of the ways I look at all events in life is as an opportunity to deepen my connection with my spirit. I do that by seeing…\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/angelsonyourshoulder\/2011\/04\/fearless-friday-random-acts-of-kindness.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Angels on Your Shoulder\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2011-04-01T19:08:52+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2011-04-01T19:14:14+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Susan Gregg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Fearless Friday: random acts of kindness - Angels on Your Shoulder","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/angelsonyourshoulder\/2011\/04\/fearless-friday-random-acts-of-kindness.html","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Fearless Friday: random acts of kindness - Angels on Your Shoulder","og_description":"Love or fear The best way I know to banish fear is to reach out in love. I have long been an advocate of random acts of kindness. One of the ways I look at all events in life is as an opportunity to deepen my connection with my spirit. I do that by seeing…","og_url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/angelsonyourshoulder\/2011\/04\/fearless-friday-random-acts-of-kindness.html","og_site_name":"Angels on Your Shoulder","article_published_time":"2011-04-01T19:08:52+00:00","article_modified_time":"2011-04-01T19:14:14+00:00","author":"Susan Gregg","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/angelsonyourshoulder\/2011\/04\/fearless-friday-random-acts-of-kindness.html","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/angelsonyourshoulder\/2011\/04\/fearless-friday-random-acts-of-kindness.html","name":"Fearless Friday: random acts of kindness - Angels on Your Shoulder","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/angelsonyourshoulder\/#website"},"datePublished":"2011-04-01T19:08:52+00:00","dateModified":"2011-04-01T19:14:14+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/angelsonyourshoulder\/#\/schema\/person\/b87299a8cec940d47d994d9cb2ccb40c"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/angelsonyourshoulder\/2011\/04\/fearless-friday-random-acts-of-kindness.html#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/angelsonyourshoulder\/2011\/04\/fearless-friday-random-acts-of-kindness.html"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/angelsonyourshoulder\/2011\/04\/fearless-friday-random-acts-of-kindness.html#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/angelsonyourshoulder"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Fearless Friday: random acts of kindness"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/angelsonyourshoulder\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/angelsonyourshoulder\/","name":"Angels on Your Shoulder","description":"Beliefnet Voices - Susan Gregg","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/angelsonyourshoulder\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/angelsonyourshoulder\/#\/schema\/person\/b87299a8cec940d47d994d9cb2ccb40c","name":"Susan Gregg","description":"Susan Greggis an author, Karuna Reiki Master, and Nagual Woman. She has written eight books including the award-winning \"Mastering the Toltec Way\" and \"The Encyclopedia of Angels, Spirit Guides and Ascended Masters.\" Susan completed an apprenticeship with Don Miguel Ruiz, author of \"The Four Agreements,\" and she has been exploring spirituality, human potential, and the nature of physical and metaphysical reality since the early 1970s. Her greatest passion is showing others how they can be happy, no matter what is going on in their lives or in the world around them. This passion has resulted in her creating a podcast, \"Food for the Soul,\" and numerous video meditations. Susan's spiritual journeys have also taken her around the world with students she teaches. Currently, she lives on the beautiful island of Hawaii where she is an avid gardener, hiker, and writer. She often spends time playing with the numerous four-legged friends she's rescued or swimming with the turtles and wild dolphins. Follow me on twitter","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/angelsonyourshoulder\/author\/sgregg"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/angelsonyourshoulder\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/718","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/angelsonyourshoulder\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/angelsonyourshoulder\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/angelsonyourshoulder\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/angelsonyourshoulder\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=718"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/angelsonyourshoulder\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/718\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":721,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/angelsonyourshoulder\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/718\/revisions\/721"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/angelsonyourshoulder\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=718"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/angelsonyourshoulder\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=718"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/angelsonyourshoulder\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=718"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}