Defining goodness.

As I was sipping my coffee this morning and checking my email, I saw this post on one of the blogs that I look at occasionally. Becky Higgins (beckyhiggins.com) who is the genius behind Project Life, was doing a giveaway, and asked for submissions from people who cultivate a good life. 

This submission on her blog I felt I HAD to

pass along to my dear blog readers... 

Have kleenex ready....

In 2000 when my husband had an accident in our home, was in a coma for 3 months, and died 7 months later … so many people, some of whom I knew, and many who I did not know at all, came forward to lend a helping hand to my daughter, then 7 years old. The kindnesses shown to us were so varied. Some gave of their time — a meal, helped us financially, picked my daughter up at school when I was at the hospital, took turns sitting with my husband at the hospital if I couldn’t be there, held his hand, talked to him while he slept for 3 months, left little gift bags of goodies for my little girl at our front door just to brighten her day…
I knew then that should we survive our difficulties, financially and emotionally, that I would never live one day of my life without returing the kindness … to someone … friend, family, or even a stranger.
And so … for more than 10 years now … I have incorporated into each day of my life an act of kindness, giving of myself, my time, a kind deed, a listening ear, a pot of chicken soup if someone is ill, Christmas gifts left on a porch for a family that had a rough financial time, a phone call to someone who is truly alone, sad, troubled, buying lunch for the homeless man who lived on the bus stop bench in our town … etc. etc. … the list goes on and on.
For me there is no better feeling than giving of myself, regardless of how wonderful – or less than perfect – my own day may be. I smile when I look back on more than 10 years of daily acts of kindness, and am so glad that I made this promise to myself … to reach out to someone each day … and to cultivate my own good life. And also for providing my daugter an example – by my actions – of what it truly means to give of yourself, no matter how big or small the kindness may be.
I know that my husband smiles down us us from his place in heaven as he watches us live our lives each day … with appreciation for our own blessings as well as a conscious choice to reach out to one person each day. If i do the math quickly, even I am amazed to know that 10 years = 3650 days, which is equal to the number of times I have sent a little bit of kindness in the direction of another person.

To me … THIS is what living a good life is all about.