Kindness.

Over the course of any given day, we cross paths and come in contact with a number of people and personalities. It is up to you to make the most of these encounters. Its a wonderful thing to know that you can brighten someones day by simply flashing a sincere smile or taking a few moments out of your day to have a conversation with someone who might be feeling lonely or having a shitty day…

How do you move about your day/your week/your life?
Do you smile, make eye contact, say good morning, hello/goodbye, hold the door for someone, ask how someones day is, give a compliment, etc… or do you walk around with your head stuck in your iPhone without noticing the people around you?

I’m addicted to my phone just as much as the person next to me, however, I do all the things above, if not more, and LOVE meeting new people. My extroverted, intuitive personality has lead to some pretty awesome, life changing & inspiring happenings with complete strangers. 
With all that being said, there are some major assholes out there… 1) kill ’em with kindness 2) don’t pay them any attention. On the flip side, there are also these really special, beautiful  souls floating about and if your lucky, you just might have a chance encounter that could change your life, or at least lend some inspiration or change in perspective.

I believe wholeheartedly that the universe gives back to you what you give to it. Law of Receprocity… Be good. Do Good. Be Kind. Be Receptive. and it no doubt, will come back to you. 

Over the last 10 days, 4 neat encounters I’ve experienced that has reminded me that simplest acts of kindness really do go a long way…xx

Much love & kindness,

Meet Victor. This hilarious encounter began with me standing in line at Rush, waiting to order a tea. The man in font of me turned around, looked at me and as I always do, I smiled. Next, thing I hear, (spoken in a heavy Ukrainian accent, mind you) “Why you so happy?”  Joel, behind the register, replied “she’s always happy”. This sparked up quite the conversation where Victor inappropriately hit on me. All in good fun, we laughed it off and I jokingly told him he could “come to my table” to chat over coffee & tea…
I learned a bit about him, his life, he lived in Alaska, NYC and just had lunch across the way at Villa Antonio. Long time divorced, entire family back in the Ukraine and lonely, he was simply happy to just sit down and chat. No big deal, really. But it was nice to know I could keep him company for 20 minutes. 

Walking thru The Village and not in any hurry, approached the crosswalk, hand flashing, I decided not to cross as this man crossed towards me from the other side of the street and said “I made it”. Come to find out, this was Pietro Marcossi, owner of longtime Italian restaurant, Monte’s Trattoria. He insisted that I join him for a cappuccino. 
Typical Italian, incredibly warm hearted & welcoming – Pietro invited me to sit and join him as if he had known me for years. He proudly talked about his daughter and told me some amazing stories of experiences throughout his life involving Frank Sinatra and Sophia Loren. I mean….WOW, right? Definitely a memorable meeting. 

Say hello to Ness. One of the super friendly & helpful flight attendants on my flight home from NYC to CLT.

I boarded my flight late and seated towards the back, there weren’t any overhead bins left next to my seat. He offered for me to just leave my bag and he’d take it up front to find a spot for it. I quickly pulled out my iPad, water & snacks which included a KIND Bar, to bring to my seat with me. Ness jokingly asked “did you bring me a KIND Bar?” so making a long story short, I decided to give it to him. :) 
A frequent flier, and coming in contact with one too many grumpy flight attendants, who should perhaps consider hanging up their wings, I appreciated a flight full of happy, smiling faces, Ness in particular. 

#4 has no photo and no name, but stuck with me…
I had just hopped off the Air Train at JFK and about to jump on the escalator, some dude snuck in front of me and somewhat cut me off. He turned around to look at me with this guilty/sorry-for-cutting-you-off look and I smiled. He then said “Thank you for the smile. Everyone is so cold & stressed.” I’m assuming he expected to turn around and find some pissed off expression on my face. How true is what he said, tho? Maybe its just me, as I’m an observant, people-watcher and notice how many people are walking around reeking of stress and anger. Someone please prescribe them a yoga class. haha