I found myself wandering the lonely aisles of the early morning supermarket the other day.  Somewhat distracted, I added bits and bobs to my trolley.  When I got to the checkout, one of the items I’d picked up (a bundle of breakfast bars for the kids) wouldn’t scan. 

‘There’s no barcode,’ said the lady at the checkout, as she pressed the buzzer for her colleague to come and do a price check.

As her colleague took the offending item to locate a replacement, the lady on the checkout asked me if I had their points card.  I said I did not, and she helpfully took me through the process on my phone to download it.

‘It’s good,’ she said, ‘the points soon build up and you can put them towards your Christmas presents.’

I thanked her, and her colleague returned with a new pack of breakfast biscuits, inclusive of barcode.

‘There was one missing,’ she told me.  ‘Some cheeky bugger’s probably nicked it and eaten it. Here…’ she said, and popped the unbarcoded pack into my trolley.  ‘It’ll only go in the waste otherwise.’

They carried on chatting amiably as I packed my shopping, and I was struck by the kindness of these too lovely ladies.  One helping me with the app, the other giving me some freebies (who doesn’t love a freebie?)

I thanked them both and left the supermarket with a smile on my face and a warm feeling in my heart.

Later that same day, I was at the local garden centre with my mother-in-law.  We had a spot of lunch and on the way out she picked up a couple of tins of travel sweets for my father-in-law;

‘He loves these’ she told me, ‘We can’t get these flavours at home.’

As she approached the checkout, she warned the young lady at the till that she’d never used apple pay on her phone before, and to bear with her if it didn’t work.  She scanned the phone and it worked first time.  The young lady did a victory dance in my mother-in-law’s honour and gave her a high five.  We left the garden centre with smiles on our faces and warm feelings in our hearts.

It’s these small exchanges of kindness in day-to-day life that spread good feelings.  Kindness is contagious, and if someone receives an act of kindness they’re likely to pass it on.  What is more, these good feelings benefit the giver even more than the receiver.  Kindness can reduce stress and improve wellbeing, and as my recent examples show, it doesn’t have to be a grand gesture, and it doesn’t have to cost anything.  Simply being your wonderful, kind and bright, shiny self can benefit those around you.  So, the next time you feel the urge to make a meaningful impact on the world, show a little kindness to the next person you meet, and enjoy the warm glow that comes from knowing you’ve spread a little light in the world, just by being you.

Kind words can be short and easy to speak, but their echoes are truly endless.

Mother Teresa

If you see someone without a smile, give them one of yours.

Dolly Parton

---

No it’s not Friday. Yes I did miss a post last Friday, but if I don’t point it out no one will ever notice…oops.