Springtime Kindness

We live smack dab on a busy corner.  We have traffic pretty much 24/7 and people biking, jogging, and walking by a lot.  To some people this location might be a bit too noisy, too busy, and annoying.  To me, it is LOVELY!  I like to eat breakfast and look out the window to see people walking by.   I like to have dinner on the front porch on warm summer nights and see cars driving by (though the occasional fire truck that blares past the house can be a bit loud…).  In short, this is a great location for us.

Another reason that this corner of two busy streets works so well is that it means I can use our little piece of the world to SPREAD KINDNESS.  I often have what I call “front gate projects”, especially when spring and summer weather hit.  I have done front gate projects asking people to examine what Inspiration, Beauty, and Joy meant to them ( Inspiration, Beauty, and Joy link ), in winter I giveaway warm clothing ( Warm Kindness link ) and lots of other things.  I express creativity and kindness on our gate!  😊 

So, when the weather started warming up last week, I started planning my newest front gate project – PROJECT SPRING!!  I got some plastic Easter eggs through our local Buy Nothing group (Buy Nothing is a cool concept – the sharing economy.  Here is a link to a story about Buy Nothing - Washington Post Buy Nothing story link.  Check and see if there is a Buy Nothing group near you, and if there is not, set one up!!)  So anyway, with Buy Nothing, you list things that you have that you want to GIVE AWAY for free, and people contact you if they would like them.  Someone listed a big bag of plastic eggs to give away, and I picked them up.

Each egg has a ribbon on the top and TREATS inside!

I cleaned them, sorted them, and glued ribbons onto each of them.  Then started the FUN PART:  filling them!!  I put treats in each egg – candy, bubble gum, super balls, little toy cars, stickers, change, 1 egg was larger and I fit a little bottle of bubbles in there, and 2 of the eggs had dollar bills 😊.  Each egg also contained a little slip of paper wishing people a happy spring and telling them about Kindness Activist, so they can join in the movement!  I also made a sign to hang on the gate so people would understand that these eggs were for SHARING, not just for decoration.

Then I HUNG THEM UP!!  I tied them with ribbons carefully to the fence on the Saturday before Easter.  Oh, I should point out that I wanted to make sure that these eggs were not seen solely as gifts for those who celebrate EASTER.  I mean, the egg is traditionally a symbol for Easter, but I have Muslim neighbors, Jewish neighbors, and I am sure many who do not have any connection to a religion.  So when I posted about the project to my local neighborhood Facebook group and to the Buy Nothing group, I explained that the eggs were for all ages and all beliefs – they are to celebrate spring time!!

Pick an egg, any egg

Celebrate SPRING!

It has been so sweet seeing people come and get eggs!!  The first 2 people I saw stop were teenage girls, and they were excited to get involved!   I have seen families come by and get eggs, couples, and kids.  Everyone left with an egg in their hand and a smile on their face.

Kindness can be super easy to spread.  It just takes an bit of inspiration, an idea, and in my case, a front gate.

HAPPY SPRING.  May the sunshine inspire you to spread kindness.  

(You can follow Kindness Activist on Twitter at @KindActivist and on Facebook at Kindness Activist