Last but not least - day 7 of the gift bag

That's it. I've opened all the presents I was given in my gift bag from the ladies at mums church. It lasted me a week, as intended. Whilst I'm passing on most of the things in the bag, I know just how blessed I am to receive a gift of kindness like this. 

 

  

I was thrilled to have read all of this little book already (took me half an hour). It even had a lovely part in the book about Kindness. So I photographed it to share here. 

  

So cool. It's lovely how this group of women (who gave me the gift bag) unintentionally shared with me something so close to my heart. They shared, showed and expressed Kindness. 

I also took a photo of all then Little bible verses like I promiesed. If you wanted to use them, to make your own gift bag to give to someone, you can. Or you could come up with quotes that inspire you with kindness and generosity. 

 

I grew up in the Christian church and as I've gotten older I have met a variety of people from so many religions. I have also met many who don't believe in religion or believe in a god either. All these people have so much to offer me in expanding my horizons and I am learning what means the most to me. Kindness in all its forms to all people.

I've come to the conclusion that whilst I am most comfortable in the Christian faith (Specifically the Anglican Church as I grew up in its churches, & I have worked for the Uniting Church, and volunteered for the Salvation Army too), I find that the words of Dalai Lama most profound "my religion is kindness". 

 

I just wanted you to know that no matter who you are, where you are, what you believe, or who you pray to, that if you act with kindness and show love towards others ... we share the same values. Often this world is filled with separation, dividing us by colour, faith, country, sexuality, ability and so much more. We are all human. We bleed red blood. We have happiness and sorrow in common. We must breathe air and drink water to survive. We must eat to live. In our basic needs we are all the same. 

My want in this world is to make the world a better place. To bring kindness and understanding, hope and compassion to everyone of this earths occupants. I also know I am human. Sometimes I get it wrong, sometimes I judge people without realising, sometimes I fall short of the expectations I place on myself, or expectations others have of me. But I do and will continue to do my best. 

There is a quote I love: "Do the best you can. When you know better, do better" (Anon). That is what I am working on. Doing the best I can. Then doing better. 

Have a lovely weekend. For those when celebrate it... have a happy and safe Easter. For those who celebrate other religious holidays around this time (many of which have already passed)... may you have love in your heart and be shown great kindness by all you meet. 

#KindnessForAll

Love Daena xx

Gift bag for a week

Another awesome gift was opened today. For those who haven't been following my daily unwrapping event, i had better explain what's been happening. Almost a week ago I was given a small gift bag with 7 presents in it. Each one had a day of the week labeled on them with a corresponding bible verse. 

It was given to me by some of the ladies at my mums church who knew I've been having a rough time lately. Which was such a lovely surprise. I was blessed with such a sweet kindness. It did the trick too. It's made me feel loved and supported. The church ladies have been checking in with mum seeing how I'm doing too. 

I got to open wrapper number 6 today. 

 

It was a spray bottle of moisturiser. I've never seen anything like it before. I am gathering a theme with the people who made the bag for me though. A lot of the toiletries have come from nutrimetics. I must admit I'm not usually a huge fan of their products. However, I feel so blessed to have received these lovely gifts. 

 

I want the kindness to continue from my little bag. I hope that I can pass this gift on to someone in the homeless community. I hope that someone who is struggling can enjoy this as a treat because they deserve to feel special too. I will give it to one of the shelters because they know who needs some extra TLC or a pick me up better than I do. 

I really love this kind of generosity. I feel so blessed and happy that someone thought I deserved this little bag of goodies. Kindness speaks louder than works. 

Tomorrow I will photograph the whole collection of quotes so you can use the bible verses (or quotes) for your own 7 day bag of kindness. 

I hope this finds you well. 

Love Daena x

Lent gifting day 12

I spent today at a car boot sale selling some craft supplies that my family and I have been getting rid of. We paid for a car bay to support a charity and community group (kindness & dejunking seems to be a theme at the moment). We had a great day and I discovered something about myself too. 

What I haven't shared before was that when I decided to get rid of one thing a day during Lent I also decided to not purchase anything new either. I didn't want to buy anything that would bring more "stuff" in when I'm working to get "stuff" out. The weird thing is that because of where we were I wandered over to the op shop (which was in the building behind me) and found an awesome dress. It has pockets... so naturally I bought it. It cost $3 which was the change I had after spending $2 to get a hot cuppa because it was freezing cold here in Perth today. Plus TEA!!! In a big mug! Winning!!!

What I didn't remember at the time I bought my new polka dot dress was that I had made this promise to myself NOT buy anything new. I had only wanted to spend my money on food, beverages, experiences and bills. I did not want to buy more STUFF! And even though I love this dress and it was a complete bargain, it was also a completely unconscious and unconsidered decision. Don't get me wrong I'm keeping the dress... after all it has POCKETS!!!! But what I didn't realise was how unconscious my spending has become. 

I will work to be more conscious of what I am actually spending. Of the stuff I am bringing into my life. I will let you know if I slip up again but I hope I don't. 

 Today I'm passing on my old work shirt. Hardly ever warn but excellent at the time. I figure that I haven't warn it in 4 years and I'm unlikely to do so again in the near future. I know that if I really need a high visibility shirt I can get second hand ones for about $5AUD at any of the local opshops. So I'm covered if I need one in the future. 

This shirt could be what some person needs to get or keep a job and earn money. Donating this to charity is providing lots of possibilities for kindness. Kindness for charities or community groups or people who are in need. Kindness is at the foundation of everything I do. I am so blessed to be able to donate some awesome stuff to charity!

It's cool to be kind! :) 

Love Daena x

Kindness continues...

Hey everyone, did you miss me? I sure missed you. Life has been crazy and all my plans of blogging daily have gone right out the window. But at least I'm back writing again. :) 

For those who don't know, this month is NaNoWriMo or, to the uninitiated, National November Writers Month. It's been going for years and I've been doing it for years but this year I have come full circle and am writing fantasy stories about characters I've written about in the past! But I have to tell you writing, whether it be blogging or story telling, keeps me happy. I have so many ideas and often I find life get in the way. But that just adds more inspiration!

 I sometimes wish I had a job as a writer then I'd get paid to do what I love, which would also mean I would have accountability to others. Plus i work so well to a dead line! :)

Anyways, that wasn't what I was really wanting to tell you about. Seeing as I haven't has a chance to upload the hundreds of kindness ideas yet (for the last several months), I thought I would share with you today's kindnesses (and yes there was a few more than one).

So today I went to help mum at her MU (Mothers Union) meeting. It's a group of Christian women who come together and have a good time, eat food and try and support local community groups. Well, today was their Christmas craft day that mum was helping with. I volunteered to help the ladies, aged between 60-95 years young, make Christmas crackers! And amazingly it's much harder than it sounds. But not too complicated! I didn't take any photos I'm afraid but it was very successful. :) there was other crafts too, ready for next months MU Christmas party! 

Not only did I make Christmas crackers for all those that were working at other tables as teachers for the craft I also made crackers for those that couldn't make today's meeting and I helped others make their own. I also helped the ladies organising the event (mum included) to pack away, then I did a load of washing up, dryed up and even brought the rubbish bins in from the road!

I was very busy and I'm exhausted now but it was a lot of fun! 

I just wanted to share this with you so you knew I was keeping up with my kindnesses! :) 

Simple kindnesses are the best. Today cost me a bit of time, but no money. Sometimes your time is the most valuable asset you have! :) 

Hope this finds you all well! :) 

Luv Daena x