It's time of the year again!

Each time the month of February comes, we will have special extra thoughts. It's not because of Valentines, unfortunately, but it's more than that. It is our little sunshine's birthday we are talking about here. As the chatterbox turns 6 next month, she is most in control of what she wants, happily makes her own decisions. Unlike few years ago, we decide on everything, our preparations and stuffs. Now, she's really growing fast and we are unable to catch up with the pace. Gone are the days when we say 'Why not you wear this blue dress, you look nice in it?' or ' Why not you tie your hair this style, it's much nicer!'. Right now, we will just respect whatever decision she makes for herself, and if that gives her sense of independence and self control, we will go with it. There were times where I miss those good old days, little I know I would be wishing for it again. It's time to let her grow, appreciating each moments as it comes. She taught us many lessons in life and the journey continues. Some are inarguably astonishing to realize how life changes with time. Today, she helped me to decorate her birthday goodie bags. It was a fun filled evening with no phrase said 'I'm bored, what can I do?'. With coloring and cutting, we managed to finish up our assignment for the day !

Simple act of kindness

Yesterday, I was at the bank queuing up to deposit some cash at the kiosk. In front of me there was a lady and her daughter (I guess so because they looked alike). Nationality was unknown. In front of them was another customer. Suddenly, the lady turned and gave me smile. I smiled back. In my heart I thought maybe she likes to smile at strangers. Then her turn came so she and her daughter moved up to do their deposit. There was some problem with the deposit as some notes couldn't go thru, she turned back to look at me and said sorry. I said it's ok. Now, I feel awkward. Why would she want to be sorry? They continued with the transaction and it took maybe a minute or two to complete it. When they were done, she looked at me and said thank you. I was taken aback by this lady's actions. There were times when I waited so long for the person in front of me to complete their transactions but they never apologized. But this lady was kind to say sorry to me because she made me to wait (even though I didn't wait for long!) 
It made me realize there are bunch of good people in this world. People who care about others. Genuinely. It was good to know. Hope this generation lives forever. They can be the role model to the rest. A simple act of kindness made me day! 

Believe In Giving

As an ordinary person, no one can deny that we are more comfortable in receiving than giving. In fact, it is much easier to do. Giving seems to be something hard especially when we are clinging to it. A quote from Winston Churchill goes like this ' We make a living by what we get, we make a life by what we give'. Sometimes we just have to accept that we are born not for ourselves but for others. We work hard for our family and children. We try to please them as much as we can. We are running day to day life in a routine. Giving just being regarded as something not so important rather than necessary. We need to realize the power of giving. You reap what you sow. If you give kindness, you will get kindness in a different form. We have to train our mind to accept this fact.
There were times, I used to ask myself, why should I give money to beggars. There are beggars who just sit by the road side and beg. There are few who are disabled but sell some stuffs and gets money in return. For those who are just begging , am I encouraging them to do more begging when I slip a dollar or two into their coin box ? I have stopped giving money to this kind of people not because I'm selfish but because I don't want to be the contributor to begging culture. I used to stand by this rule for many years till recently. When it doesn't matter anymore when your heart is all out to help the needy. It doesn't matter anymore when you feel some kind of contentment when you give be it financially or something which can't be measured like kindness. Indeed, it takes an effort to make people feel that they should give. It is just a feeling which comes naturally without any force. It is the best feeling of the day when you know that you made a difference in someone's life. This good feeling should continue as long as you are alive in this world. Hope the God gives me an opportunity to do that!