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I onee held a class called Planting Happiness. I had a field day with this. There were door prizes, food, a short lecture and a lot of fun. But the one thing I did to really send the message of the lecture home was place a packet of flower seeds at every seat with a little poem on them. I can't remember what the poem was. I have one or two left over packets here around the house. I held the class about 2 years ago and it was not the success that I thought it would be. It still went fairly well. There just wasn't the numbers I had in mind for the class which made some of the things I wanted to do harder to do. But that was ok.
I am a firm believer in planting happiness. I am forever trying to put a smile on someone's face. Call me selfish if you want but I would rather see someone happy. I know that no one can be happy all of the time. Life kind of gets in the way of that. But I have seen people who weren't pretty/handsome at all until they smiled.
I am a firm believer in random acts of kindness. Little things like paying for the order for the person behind me at the drive through at a fast food chain. Sending someone you have never met a gift because you heard they were having a baby. things liket hat. Leaving a potted plant on the front porch of your neighbors house for them to find when they get home. Or just sending them a little note in the mail. Sometimes it takes just giving someone a genuine smile in order to cheer them up. Yours might be the first smile they have seen in days. Picking up the trash that blew into your neighbors yard for them when you know its hard for them to do it is a wonderful thing.
Unexpected little things sometime are all it takes to save a life. Sometimes people just need a shove in the right direction to see that life isn't all bad. That there is something good in it.
I once recieved a package in the mail. I didn't know who it was from. I never heard of the woman. But she sent me all sorts of little odds and ends that I like. She even sent me a key chain with my name on it. She didn't know this but that day was a horrible day for me. But when I got that package I was so shocked that I was shocked right out of my bad mood. I was pleased that this stranger had done this for me. I finally found out where she found my address. A friend put my address and name and what I like on a list and these women in the group chose someone from the list and did something nice for them. I have been doing similar things ever since.
But its rewarding. You dont expect to ever hear from them. Which is fine because it isn't about that. What its about is putting a smile on a face of a person who might not have smiled in a while. That is the reward.