Picked up someone's job - 31st Day

Picked up someone's job for half a day

Picked up one of my colleague's work as he was not in today and there was his work piling up. I picked up his job and stayed a little late to finish it. This will help him tomorrow , where he would not have to come to a lot of work already on his plate and everything backed up. 

A little help to one of our colleagues around and making someone's work a little easier, if it takes a little of your time, then why not.

Hand Written Letters to my parents - 30th Day

Hand Written letters

Wrote hand written letters to my mom and my dad appreciating all they did for me and thanking them for being the best parents ever. I wrote this letter in hindi, after a very long time , I am sure I have made tons of mistakes but I know they will understand every word of it. This letter was reminding them all they did for me since childhood and how their teaching became my nature. I got my "Never Give Up" attitude from my mom who always taught me to fight against any situation and to get up and keep going all the time. She taught me to be happy in any condition and things would work out for me, which they did. My dad taught me to be a good person, "Good deed a day" is actually my dad's nature, he loves to help people around and he is the person who would do anything for anyone, without giving a second thought. I am a big part of my parents character and 2 great human beings best mix :)

Thank you Mummy and Daddy , I love you a lot. 

Note: Mummy , daddy your letters will reach you very soon

Asking for forgiveness - 29th Day

Asking for Forgiveness - 29th Day

 

Ok, I have to admit, this was the toughest one up till now. I had to ask for forgiveness from an old friend of mine , which I have been postponing for very long time. It took a lot of courage to get this act together and to send the message across as I wanted to. It was not easy at all, as this friend was a very close friend and we had part ways due to my behavior. I am sure I must have hurt my friend a lot and it has been over 10 years now, it is about time.

I would have preffered a face to face forgiveness but as it was not possible, I sent a message and asked for forgiveness. I needed my closure and wanted to send this message across. I hope I get my friend back and the forgiveness I asked for.

We all are humans , we all make mistakes and knowingly or unknowingly we hurt our loved ones. Asking forgiveness with the full intention of not repeating again and making sure that you understand what you have done might have cause pain in their lives. Asking for forgiveness and then giving forgiveness both are good deeds in itself.

Donating used glasses - 28th Day

Donating prescription glasses to 3rd world countries - 28th Day

 

I have been wearing glasses for several years, I have some old pairs lying around, thought it would be nice to donate my un-used glasses which someone can bring to use. Costco accepts donations and gives away our un-used glasses to 3rd world countries for us. This was the good opportunity to donate them , so that it can be useful for someone else.

 

Paid for someone behind us - 27th Day

Paid for someone behind us in the Coffee Drive through - 27th Day

We were getting our coffee today, thought it would be a nice gesture to pay for car behind us. A small treat once in a while it would be nice to receive, specially when it is totally unexpected.

Helped someone grow - 26th Day

Helped someone grow - 26th Day

Donated money to someone in Africa, who can start his own business with help of group investment and would try to pay back once his business takes off.

I always believed in teaching someone to fish, rather than handing him a fish. So, I was against just giving away money to anyone just like that, but if this gives a kickstart to start someone's business/ career and they are going to try to payback, it made sense to me.  This website is called kiva.org , which helps people start businesses mostly in 3rd world countries with the help of group donation, and sends a track of how and when they will pay back. It just made sense logically that someone would not take your money and misuse it , but would thrive to achieve their goal and would look into paying back to people who tried to help them grow.

Flowers for a stranger - 25th Day

Flowers for a stranger:

These are the flowers I got it from a store the other day and I took a bunch this morning and gave it our bus driver thanking him for being who he is. I think it came as a surprise for him, but he accepted it and placed it right in front of him. It had pleasant smell and it would make him smile and help him de-stress himself in his peak time.

Some jobs can be stressful and it can get on to you, it is more scary if that job effects tons of people. Its a chain reaction, if a bus driver is happy, all his passengers of the day (which can be a huge number) will be happy too. If a bus driver is upset or annoyed , it can ruin tons of people's day. It is a chain reaction for everything.

Chain reaction even works for Good Deeds, check this video out:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nwAYpLVyeFU

Jan 25th, 2013

Called Elderly Uncle and helped a friend - 24th Day

Called an elderly uncle and helped a friend over the phone

  

Called an elderly uncle after a very long time, to see how he was feeling. He was a little upset as he had just lost his brother couple of weeks ago. When I was talking to him, thought Nizar (my husband) and I could cheer him up. Added my husband on the call and we both tried to make him smile. We even invited him to come over and have dinner with us some day. By the end of the call , he left with a big smile. 

Next , one of my friends was stuck with a task on hand and needed some technical support :) I took her call and started "Thank you for calling Dell Support, how can I help you mam" :) lol. Got her up and running and resolved her issue.

Just one call can get someone out of their troubles and make them smile. So, why wait? Pick up the phone and make a call to your loved one and make them smile today:)

Jan 24th, 2013 

Wrote a Poem - 23rd Day

Wrote a Poem:

Good Deed a Day
 
Good deed a day,
Takes all my sorrows away
 
Good deed a day,
Brings happiness and makes me say:
 
Bring a smile on someone's face,
Pull someone out of that lost maze.
 
Hold the hand for someone in need,
Share a hug and a nice good deed.
 
Spark that twinkle in your neighbor's eyes,
Take away all the sad good byes.
 
Look deep down at someone's heart,
And see their inner most hurt part.
 
Lend that shoulder and wipe those eyes,
Before some loved one dies.
 
Care and share all you can,
Be that one who is a real man.
 
Stand up and make that first move,
To really help someone, not just to prove.
 
Find all the ways to be a lot of fun,
Where you get to give a ton.
 
As giving reflects back to you,
Which will really broaden your view.
 
So why wait, lets touch the next heart you meet,

Enter that heart and make a permanent seat :)

************************

Wrote this poem as a message, passing it to all those who are waiting to take that one step to do good deed a day and starting a ripple effect of love, happiness and care. 

Jan 23rd, 2013

Donated food to local food bank - 22nd Day

Donated food to our local food bank:

     

Today we went to Walmart to do our groceries, I noticed there was a Food Bank Donation bin. I thought that this would be a good opportunity to donate some food to people in need. Specially in our winter, it would be nice to have soup and pasta. My husband and I, went around collected some non perishable food and then donated it to our local food bank. Hope this helps people in need and may be someone will not have to go to sleep without the basic necessity of life.

Basic necessity of life should be the right of humans, we all should have basic needs fulfilled. Lets build a city , a country, a world of people with at least basic needs met. I would like to take this opportunity to thank to the greatest power, for giving us such a great life.

Jan 22nd, 2013

Shared food - 21st Day

Shared my food:

While warming up my lunch I realized one of my colleague had not got lunch today and I did, so opened up my lunch and shared it with him. He really loved my food and enjoyed every bit of it. It felt so fulfilling helping someone feed, I was more than full than I would have been if I had my lunch all by myself.

Sharing food is what I learnt from my dad. He never ate his food by himself. He always shared his food with who ever was around him, it could be his employees or his relatives. He always goes out of his way to help poor and needy and feed people during Ramadan , when they are fasting. Sharing is caring :)

Jan 21st, 2013

Emailed a stranger - 20th Day

Emailed a stranger:

Wrote an email to a stranger from  http://www.hugsandhope.org/amberm.htm . This website provides us email address of kids who are fighting life threatening diseases. I picked up a girl from that website who has brain cancer and wrote her an email. An email motivating her, showing her how strong she has been uptil now and how she inspires everyone around her. Passed on my message of "Never Give Up". I know it must be difficult for her but wanted to cheer her up with a small note of love and support.

If one quick email can make someone's day, why not lets all write a few lines of email to these kids who are going through tough times and any kind of encouragement may make them a bit stronger to deal with their situation.

Jan 20th, 2013

Baby shower to a friend - 19th Day

Implemented the baby shower plan and helped clean the house after the party

Organized fun games for the baby shower and helped them clean their place after the party. The plan that I created in the beginning of this year, we finally implemented the plan, had a fun baby shower and at the end when almost everyone had left, Nizar  (my husband) and I offered to help clean up the place. This couple were really tired and I can see in their eyes it would have been a lot of work if they had to do all this the next day and by themselves. Helping clean up the place surely gave them peace of mind and relieved for the next day.

If it takes few minutes to help someone out and you are in great health, why not help your friends around and make them at ease. Parties are usually very fun that day, but very painful the next day with all the cleaning. With a little help, I think we all can  make others day beautiful. 

Jan 19th, 2013

Friends over for dinner - 18th Day

Friends over for dinner:

These friends of ours just had a baby few months ago and they have been super busy with their new born.Their life has been very hectic and super tight schedules. Today I thought I will come home from work and cook special dinner for them and give them a little rest from their hectic life style. I made them chicken shish tawook , curry, rice and cream of mushroom soup, which is her favorite. They really had scrumptious dinner and loved every bit of it. Later on my husband made wonderful masala tea, which was even more relaxing after a heavy course meal.

Getting a small break from busy schedule and receiving special treatment, who does not enjoy it. Who does not like some time off from cooking and cleaning. We all do like being treated well , so why not give that gift to your loved ones and let them have some relaxing and special moments well spent. 

Jan 18th, 2013

Gave away used decorations for reuse - 17th Day

Gave away used decorations for reuse to a friend:

 

I had some old used party decorations that I  always kept after parties, to re-use them in future. One of my friends was going to organize a party and wanted some decorating material. I gathered all I had from previous parties and gave it to her to reuse it for her party. 

Few things that do not matter if they are reused, then why not reuse them, it is a good way of recycling things. This way you are saving money for sure, and reusing the resources already available, helps save our planet, even if it has to be bit by bit.

 Jan 17th, 2013

Helped an elderly on the bus - 16th day

Helped an elderly on the bus:

Today on the bus , it was super busy, we did not have room to sit. In all that an elderly lady got on the bus. No one noticed her and no one offered her the seat. I held her hand and got her to the front seats and asked people to offer their seat for her. It was very kind of a young lady to give her seat to this elderly lady. Later, when her stop came, the bus was so packed, that she was unable to get off the bus. I held her hand again and made way for her, asked bus driver to stop until she got down safely. She thanked me couple of times and went on her way smiling.

We all will be getting older at some point in life, we have to respect elders. Make them comfortable and do whatever you can for them. They are like your parents or grand parents, if they were around, wouldn't you have held their hands to support them?

Jan 16th, 2013

Home remedies - 15th day

Home remedies to flight this flu season :

Colleagues at my work were sick due to this viral flu going on, all over US and Canada, it the the most serious flu in a decade. I have been listening people cough everyday in the office and try to combat flu. I thought why not help these guys with our home remedy. My mom used to make these small balls of turmeric and honey , we used to suck on them for hours, to sooth our sore throat and help relieve our cough. So, this morning I thought I will make few turmeric balls for them and take it to the office.

I gave these guys few turmeric balls to suck on throughout the day and one of them came and told me, it really was soothing for him. Left some extra balls in a container for them in the office, if they need it later on , they can have it.

Home remedies have always been my first preference than any over the counter medications. If this can help people even a little bit, my part for the day is done.

Jan 15th, 2013

Finding home for abandoned shopping carts - 14th Day

Finding home for abandoned shopping carts:

Today when I was walking home after work, I was passing through a parking lot of our Superstore. I noticed a young employee, struggling in our winter collecting abandoned shopping carts and taken them inside. I thought why not help him a bit and make his work a little easier. I went on the other side of the parking lot where he had not gone yet and collected about 8 to 10 carts from all over the place and got them in. It took me some time, I had to get 2 to 3 carts at a time, as there was snow in some areas and it was difficult to push the carts easily, but finally got atleast one area cleaned up for him.

Abandoned shopping carts is a problem for almost every grocery store, why not all of us just take our own cart and leave it in the place where you have to park the carts or back inside the store. If we all do our job, it will reduce the cost of losing carts, damaging carts and reduces employee hiring for this job, and in turn it will help our grocery store to save money and get us better deals.

Wrote a recommendation letter - 13th day

Writing a recommendation letter:

Today I took sometime to write a very positive recommendation letter to one of my existing colleagues. This was a way to appreciate his hard work and his fantastic skills and to show him that his work is acknowledged. 

Recommendation letter is usually a professional way to show your colleagues , how their work is appreciated by their peers. This would motivate them and make them feel that all their hard work is not going unnoticed. 

Donated old magazines - 12th day

Donating old magazines to Library

 

 Today as it was Saturday, I took some time to collect all our old technology magazines which we have read and are of no use to us, rather than recycling, I thought to see what are my other options to make sure these magazines become useful for others. Found that our local library accepts donations for old magazines to have their own collection of Tech Magazines. Bingo!!! Collected all of them around the house and will have to drop it off on Monday and put it good use for our Ottawa citizens :)

One man's thrash is another man's treasure, so true. If anything that we are not going to use it, why not see if anyone else could use it. If its waste for you, just lying around or you don't see a need for it and if it is still worth using, why not donate it to charities, libraries or give it away to your friends and relatives, who could possibly make good use of it and save some money.

Helping with known skills - 11th day

Helping with known skills:

One of my cousin needed some help with my networking skills, helped him out today to do a certain setup that he needed. Explained him how things worked and made his job easier.

Sharing skills is always a good practice. I always said in a community if we all share our skills and get help from people around who has different skills, we all can learn a lot and could get a lot of work done with best trusted support. This is a very amazing concept of using our own skills and time to help others.

Offered a friend to baby sit their little one - 10th day

Offered a friend to baby sit their little one:

             

One of our friend's is going through some difficult times, so thought if we offer to baby sit their baby, the couple can go out and spend some time with each other and take some time off , from all the stress. Wrote an email offering them to leave their baby with us and assured we will take good care of him, and asked them to get some alone relaxing time. Hope they take this offer and hope it helps them take their mind of other things.

Giving someone a little of your time and helping some one out , means a lot to them. It makes a tiny viny difference in their lives :)

Made people comfortable - Day 9

Made people comfortable:

 

Today at work , it was super busy and one of my colleague was busy coding. It was cold in the morning and I knew my colleague needed a coffee, but could not leave due to work. I was going out to get my coffee, I did a round of coffee for him too. This really made him warm and comfortable to get back to his work. Later in the day, cleaned up our common kitchen area at work, which helped people use sink and not be worried about mess and dirt around there. Held doors at the mall for people passing by.

Distributed the thank you cards made yesterday to our bus drivers. One on the way to work and one way back. The driver was super happy , shook hands with me and thanked me kindheartedly. His words were "I work for such appreciation" and he was really happy to see someone thanking him for his efforts. Felt really nice :)

Thank you cards for bus drivers - Day 8

Thank you cards for Bus Drivers:

Made 2 Thank You cards and hand wrote personal notes on both, thanking our OC Transpo bus drivers for doing such an amazing job in Ottawa's winter, where it can go as low as -35 degrees Celsius. I will hand over these cards tomorrow on the bus, it will be a part of today's deed. 

Thinking about people who make your life easier, who help you day in and day out to make your life a perfect one and thanking them for their effort. This will let them know that they are really appreciated by people around them, it will tell them that their hard work counts and it makes a difference in people's lives.

Organ donation - Day 7

Organ Donation:

I have been thinking of doing this for a very long time. Donating my organs/tissues after my death. Now this can sound a little dramatic, but if someone could benefit from my body parts that would not be of any use for me in the coffin, I do not see a reason to save them . So, today I finally registered myself with Ontario's organ donation and fulfilled my one wish that I wanted to do for so long. This could be a way for me to be alive in this world even after I am dead :) ( I would not be leaving your back so easily ;) I was always scared of losing my eyes and thought if I ever do and if no one donated me their eyes, I would then have to live in a dark world for the rest of my life.

As I would wish for myself and for my loved ones to live their life fullest, I am sure everyone wants to do the same, so if I can be of any help,  then why not. This step took a lot of courage and lot of thinking for years together, I finally did it today. I am glad I took this step.

Note: For more info on this, if you guys are interested, below is the link: http://www.ontario.ca/health-and-wellness/organ-and-tissue-donor-registration

Sharing knowledge - Day 6

Sharing the knowledge :

 

 Few of my old friends were asking for my recipes, today I took time to compile few good recipes , added to Google docs and shared with all my loved ones. Even called my grandma to get couple of her super famous recipes and added to the list. 

Sharing information, sharing knowledge actually really grows. Help someone learn something, and you are creating some skilful people, in turn making them happy. This can create a chain reaction and we can start spreading knowledge and our skills, making our surrounding a skilful one.

Remembering old neighbors - Day 5

Remembering old neighbors :

Remembering old neighbors . We had this old couple who used to be our neighbor, we had lost touch with them , we called them and invited them over at our place. Prepared delicious meals and made them feel special. We played Karaoke of hindi songs with them and made them feel at home. They were really touched and they even enjoyed spending time with us.

Remembering old friends , neighbors , colleagues and telling them that you still remember them and they are in your thoughts, makes them feel special. Lets call our old lost friends, and tell them how much they mean to you :)

Sharing is caring-Day 4

Sharing is caring :

At work , I keep some natural Almond packs just incase if I ever get hungry and if I would like to snack on something. Today was a busy day at work and everyone put in more than 100% to get the product out in the market. I thought I should share something with them . I went to my colleagues desk , one by one , asked them to close their eyes and gave them one pack each which had almost 20 to 25 almonds. 

What changed? First of all they felt happy that I thought about them and went and shared it with everyone, second it filled them for a bit until they all went for lunch and third  it made them feel special.

Making any one feel special, loved and cared for, makes them really happy from within and brings a smile on their face. It was a very small thing but it made them all happy even for a bit, which may pass on in their lives in other areas and make someone else happy.

Plan and prepare friend's baby shower -Day 3

Took initiative to prepare, plan and organize a Baby Shower for one of our friends :

Giving surprises and making people happy is one thing I love to do. So, I decided I will plan and organize one of our friend's baby shower, with help of my friends. I emailed my friend's husband to get some details from him and gave him an idea of how we would organize a party for his wife , and keep it a surprise from her. It is just exciting to make someone's day a happy moment and make it so memorable that they would never forget in their lifetime. I have organized 4 baby showers uptil now and this will be the 5th one, lol, kind of becoming an expert in baby showers :)

Lets do one thing that would make someone's day and bring a smile on their face.

Helped a friend in need - Day 2

Helped a friend in need:

A friend was in need of financial help , due to some crises at his place. Helped him out for now and hope it helps him to deal with his situation for a bit and hope it gives him some strength to come out his crises. 

A struggling hand is always shy to ask for help, if it is asking for help, it must be something hurt really deep down. 
Lets try to help our friends , colleagues, neighbours without them asking for help.

Jan 1st, 2013 - Day 1

Sent an appreciating and acknowledging Email:

 

Sent an email to an Ex Senior Colleague  , letting him know what a great person he is and how his attitude had made a difference at work. I even acknowleged his hard work and his support for everyone around and how he made the work environment very happy place to work.

Atleast One Good Deed A Day

  

Doing one good deed in a day , starts from today , January 1st, 2013 and I will try my best to do atleast one good deed a day and help someone in need or make someone's day.

The concept of sharing our good deeds on this blog was to inspire people to do different good deeds , and to share your good deeds with others or pick someone's good deed and make it your own.

This way, we can help, share and inspire our community to do one good deed a day and make our little world the best place to live in.

I will be updating this blog everyday and will share my good deed of the day with everyone, please feel free to comment on it, or share your good deed of the day and help me spread love everywhere. 

New Year 2013

Spreading Love :

 

Starting 2013 by spreading love :)

This blog is created after reading about all the terrible things going on across the world, wars, killings, rape, murders, shooting etc.

Everyone who I spoke to about these events, have lost faith in this world and think there is no love left in this world.

I want to start this new trend of spreading love by helping people around, to show that there is empathy, love, compassion , generosity etc is still alive in this beautiful world.

I don't want people to walk around being paranoid or scared of people around them.  I don't want people to think the person next to them on the bus could be a rapist, I don't want people to think the guy next to them in a movie theatre can be a shooter, I don't want people to think their neighbor can be a murderer nor I want kids to go to school thinking they might not return back home to their parents.

Today I want to start this trend , taking one step at a time, doing a good deed a day and spreading love as much as I can , making people more compassionate, caring and loving , to make them think that this whole world is not as bad as they think.

I would love you all to join and turn this one step into a huge marathon of love and  passion and keep helping people around to make this world a better place to live.