Rest apparently does the body good. I feel somewhat better. Not 100% but the cough died down a bit and my throat hurts less. I still plan on resting the remainder of the day and evening. The hubs will even prepare dinner for us tonight. That doesn’t mean no cooking for me, though. I prepared a dinner to bring to a friend since she just had a baby 2 weeks ago. Gina’s Lightened Up Shepherd Pie.

I know those days too well. A home-cooked meal feels like the holy grail – strongly desired, yet simply unattainable. For that reason, I always love cooking meals for those who simply won’t have the time for whatever reason. And I don’t only do it with hopes that good karma comes my way in the form of visitors bearing casseroles after my delivery. 😉

I do such things because I believe in the power of small acts of kindness. The simplest of things, from blog comments to a stranger holding the door for me as I lug M and my bag into the gym, can slap a smile on my face that will carry me through the day. Or on the flip side, when I start up a cheerful conversation with an obviously tired cashier clerk, I never fail to leave without a renewed hope in people and love.

The notion that the simplest of actions can make the biggest of impacts tattoos itself on my heart. Then, urges me to remember it when out living my life. I don’t always succeed, but know that this work in progress delivers more reward than a winning lotto ticket. It saddens me that too often pulling out the checkbook is the resolution we turn to in an effort to help, when other gestures would also serve a positive purpose. Acts of kindness go far and reach places nothing else can. And there are so many ideas out there!

• Write a note of appreciation to your mailman
• Give a huge tip to someone when they least expect it
• Give a genuine compliment
• Write a thank you note to someone
• Look for something around you that can be fixed up, picked up, or attended to
• Write a note to management or someone who has treated you nice while doing their job
• Cut coupons out and leave them at the grocer register for others
• Put a comment on someone's webpage that you really like...... let them know you enjoy it
• Send a card to someone in the military overseas
• Start a conversation up with a co-worker that you don't know
• Put change in a row of vending machines
• Visit a nursing home. Spend time visiting with someone who doesn't get visitors
• Put something you no longer need on Craig's list free spot for your area
• Leave a book/magazine you have already finished somewhere for someone else to read.
• Take some cake, chocolates, flowers etc. to the neighbors, or a senior citizen nearby
• Invite someone who is alone over for dinner.
• Leave a chocolate for a co-worker.
• Copy a favorite recipe and give it to someone
• Write letters of appreciation to groups who are helping the community, the environment, etc.
• Make a point of introducing yourself to someone you see all of the time but never say hello to.
• If you know someone who is having a hard time financially, pop a $5, $10 or $20 note in an envelope, disguise your writing or type the envelope, and post it to them.
• Offer to baby sit
• Donate clothes to goodwill
• Bring cookies or some snack for the office
• Write anonymous, loving post-its for strangers to find

Find even more ideas at Dare to be an Angel. I have to say the bolded ones stuck out to me as a blogger and lover of Operation Beautiful. 😉

How do you feel on random acts of kindness? Which of the above have you done or would you like to do? I tend to do ones that involve bringing food to people or helping out a fellow parent because I can relate to it. I also love complimenting strangers!

Stay tuned for tomorrow morning’s post. I’ll be revealing blue or pink! 😀

AND...one WEEK from today starts the 30 Days of Self Love! Super excited!! Are you?

Harumph. I woke up feeling worse today than I did at the end of yesterday. My throat hurts; my body feels exhausted; and I keep coughing up a lung. It’s quite attractive I tell you. Looks like today will be a day on the couch with the little girl beside me. Sometimes being sick isn’t so bad. I try to focus on the positive. Like the fact I…

…get to stay in PJs all day without a care in the world.

I laughed when I put these on because M’s eyes lit up. “Ooohh! Mommy. Piiiinnnnk pants!” I guess to her they show more class than my typical workout clothes I live in? Who am I to deny her opinion?

I also get to watch a bunch of Friends during her nap.

Friends always makes me feel better. I will forever claim this show as my favorite. And I want to know where my Friends The Movie is? They had two Sex & The City movies after all.

I have free reign to eat all the yoatgurt parfaits my heart desires.

They smooth my firey throat quite well. I admit they were a second choice…but Yogli Mogli won’t deliver. I can get food from China on my doorstep but not frozen yogurt. Something wrong with that. 😉

Basically, my body forces me to take more chill time. I typically go go go from the first moment I wake. How sad that illness has to make me slow down? It reminds me of a particular moment in Eat, Pray, Love.

…Americans have an inability to relax into sheer pleasure. Ours is an entertainment-seeking nation, but not necessarily a pleasure seeking one. Americans spend billions to keep themselves amused…but that’s not the same as quiet enjoyment…We all inevitably work too hard, then we get burned out and have to spend the whole weekend in our pajamas, eating cereal straight out of the box and staring at the TV in a mild coma (which is the opposite of working, yes, but not exactly the same thing as pleasure). Americans don’t really know how to do nothing.

I agree with that. To an extent. I will be the first to admit that I don’t really know how to do nothing. The closest to that I come is my morning 20-30 minutes of prayer and Bible reading. But I would not describe it as nothing. I’m still reading and studying and communicating. Also, when I think of doing nothing it doesn’t really connate pleasure for me. I like reading, looking at blogs, talking to someone I care for on the phone, playing with my daughter, curling up on the couch with my husband and a movie, etc in those precious spare moments I can grasp.

Do I enjoy those things because that’s all I know in a society of doing and feel a need to fill time? Or do I enjoy them because they truly give me more pleasure than sitting with my thoughts? Is it wrong to want to fill time if those things increase your happiness?  While I do understand the importance of taking a break from daily stresses, I don’t know how I feel about the need to do nothing. Maybe one day I’ll know. But not today…because I know when sick I’ll be distracting myself any way I can. 😉

• What do you do to feel better when sick?
• How do you feel about doing absolutely nothing like described in EPL?