From the Chaplaincy Team

Everyday Acts of Kindness

With an oversupply of citrus fruit during lockdown, I decided to try my hand at making marmalade. Voila, beautiful marmalade!

Unsure about how to seal the jars for long life, I came up with the idea of sharing them with our neighbours. I placed six jars in the foyer of our apartment building along with a note 'We are all in this together; help yourself'.

As the jars disappeared, other neighbours kindly started sharing their produce. Over the next few days, basil, parsley, mandarins, dried fruit, homemade cordial and fruit cake appeared. Wow. Kindness is infectious: it multiplies and improves our wellbeing and that of those around us.

If ever there was a time for sharing a little kindness, it is surely now. Research has shown that when we do something good for others, it not only benefits them, it also boosts our own health and wellbeing. Mary Baker Eddy writes in Science and Health page 3: 'Gratitude is much more than a verbal expression of thanks. Action expresses more gratitude than speech.'

Kindness and paying it forward is right in the wheelhouse of Huntingtower. How beautiful it has been to see so many examples of this in these last few months.

In the latest RACV communication I found these simple tips on how we can spread kindness:

Leave a posy

Take in the neighbour’s bins

Make a mask for a friend

Run errands

Pay a coffee forward

Be an angel next door

Write a letter or a card

Create a jigsaw puzzle for a housemate

Get the kids involved by donating their old toys

Send a picture or homemade art to a relative

Shout a meal