Week 18 and 19 - More acts of random kindness

I'm sitting by the window, it's a pleasant enough day and I can hear the calming sound of the water fountain and see the bees buzzing intentionally on the flowers just outside.
Sound idyllic? It's not what it seems.
The views and sounds inside the room portray a very different picture. There's a man opposite who is making a painful, unsettling rattling noise, his wife is periodically stroking his hand and showing him compassion. Another lady is talking about her husband having gone downhill and life being like a roller-coaster. In fact, so fast-moving is this ride, that after a break in writing the first man has now gone; moved to his own room. The third lady embraces her husband and gets cheek to cheek; I don't know if he can hear her. As for my father in law, I hold his hand, there are no sounds from him, he is asleep and for a few moments at least he seems to have found some comfort from his long journey towards death.
I am in the hospice. I feel very emotional today and I am overwhelmed by the sadness in the room and the kindness that these women and my mother in law show to their husbands who are unable to give anything back in return.
Kindness is so precious a gift, don't you think? To give something of yourself simply to give joy or comfort to another sounds quite easy and doesn't cost a lot. In the hospice it's so utterly compelling because you know there's not a single selfish motive.
I wanted to have a few acts of random kindness on my list this year because I believe kindness can be practised, this sort of kindness which is spontaneous, generous and selfless. We don't know what sadnesses may lurk behind someone's cool façade, we don't know how many opportunities we'll have to do something for any given person. So I'm recommending we show kindness whenever we can not just when it's obviously needed.
What I did is really not the point of this blog, but for the sake of ideas and sharing inspiration I'll tell you that one was sending flowers to a person chosen randomly from my contacts list and the other was making cakes for my elderly neighbour.
I'm glad I did them both and the supermarket one. I'm going to keep practising kindness, because you just never know........

.....(I didn't say earlier but I finished this blog the day after the hospice visit. All three of my father in law's fellow journeyers died last night.)

Week 17 - The Department store one!

If you're thinking this is similar to the supermarket one and that I went into Debenhams and paid for someone's bridal outfit, I'm sorry to say you'll be disappointed - but please do still read on...
In fact, this was all about me! I'll explain. Whilst browsing around Debenhams one day at the end of last year I noticed someone having their eyebrows treated at one of those beauty salon bars. Of course I'd seen this kind of thing before and I'd always wondered what kind of crazy person would actively seek out such a public arena for what I deemed to be a very personal matter? Thinking of my '50 things' I decided there and then that I needed to be one of those people.
I realise these beauty bars are just another example of convenience and impulse retailing and there is absolutely nothing wrong with that, nor the people who frequent them!
My problem with them was just that, my problem. You probably know by now that I'm an easily embarrassed person and not given to being reckless or spontaneous. So you see this was indeed a challenge for me and exactly why I needed to overcome my fears and bias.
So, after circling the store at least a couple of times I took the plunge and asked to have an eyebrow shape (it was the cheapest treatment,... well it was mainly to achieve a goal after all!) The beautician asked me if I wanted them waxing or threading and since incredibly I've already had my eyebrows waxed (yes it's true) I chose the latter. At this point I felt very smug and clever that I even knew what threading was, as less than two years ago I had no clue and I'm still too embarrassed now to tell you what I thought it meant!
The whole experience was over with very quickly with the young girl working swiftly and creating a shape where previously there'd been none. However, I must confess that I found it quite painful and a lot of money for a few minutes work. I'm one of these people that if I spend money I like to see the benefits - I'm not convinced it was really noticeable, but my daughters said it was.
Anyway, I did it, that's the main thing, on show in the middle of a store on a Friday afternoon. If I go for threading again, and I probably will, I'll go somewhere cheaper and who knows you might just see me through the window and wonder who on earth would do that??