过去几年，我成了“微笑卡片”的忠实拥护者。这些小卡片的理念很简单：匿名行善，留下一张卡片，邀请收卡人将这份善意传递下去。如果收卡人照做，善意之链便会继续传递，如同涟漪般扩散开来。
微笑卡片的好处数不胜数。它们小巧、简单、朴素，却蕴含着强大的力量，因为一个善举就能开启一段漫长的善意之旅。但即便如此，我使用它们的主要原因还是它们悄然改变了我的思维方式。
最近，我在飞机上读一本朋友送我的、很有意思的理财书。飞机降落时，我感觉有人轻拍我的肩膀。是一位老先生，他想听听我对这本书的看法。原来他听说过这本书，很想读一读。我跟他分享了我对这本书的感受，但随后我突然想到：为什么不把书送给他呢？当时这本书在美国都买不到。于是我把书递给了他。当然，他一开始拒绝了，但我尽力解释，经过一番劝说，老先生最终感动得热泪盈眶地接过了书。他告诉我，他很难理解我为什么要这么做，但他会想办法把这份善意传递下去。
现在，从长远来看，这件事本身微不足道。我的意思是，只不过是送人一本书而已。任何人都能做到。但是……“为什么不直接把书送给他呢？”这个想法对我来说却是全新的。在此之前的几个月里，我的钱包里一直装着微笑卡。最初，这只是我在聚会上用来活跃气氛的有趣话题，后来却变成了一堆我不得不倾诉的善举。
慢慢地，我的视角开始转变。我不再想着如何利用局面为自己谋利，而是忙着思考如何让别人的一天更美好。这些卡片就像一个口袋大小的提示，提醒我成为一个更好的人！我开始意识到，我携带的不仅仅是一些漂亮的卡片——我携带的是每一次互动中慷慨的潜能。这一切让我回想起把书交给陌生人的那一天。那一天之所以神奇，恰恰是因为它如此平凡。我曾有过那么一刻，出于习惯想要付出；仿佛这是我唯一知道的应对方式。在那一刻，陌生人和值得信赖的朋友之间没有任何区别。而最美妙的是什么？在我把书交给他之后，接下来一整天都兴奋不已、手舞足蹈的人——竟然是我自己。
我现在意识到，我一直在潜移默化地重塑我的思维模式。持续不断地为他人做些小事，最终会让那些更大规模的付出变成“理所当然”。更重要的是，这让我从关注结果转向关注过程。不要指望世界会因此改变，只需现在就无条件地付出，并相信这种行为的力量会继续在所有参与者身上进行重塑。
我的人生经历告诉我，涟漪效应会带来内外两方面的变化。虽然我并不一定需要微笑卡片才能继续前行，但它们的确是一个绝佳的借口 :)
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You had me at Kindness, Birju :). I can see the ripples in the once still pond and they are beautiful <3
Really appreciate the wonderful comments here! Thank you for walking the path of service!
This is amazing. The simple concept of smile cards is awesome and I'd never heard about them, yet they have been out since 2003. How cool. I'm in. My mind already started spinning about what I could do for somebody today.
The feeling of being kind and making someone's day is priceless. I always keep in mind how I would feel or how I would want to be treated. Kindness warms hearts...and think of all the great things that can happen when a heart is warmed! Ripple Effect!
These days Smile cards are always in my pockets, in my bag, leaving home without them is like going out without shoes :-) and the Universe always finds the most amazing ways for me to make use of them, either with a generous tip to the waiter, or the singer on the street, left inside a book at the library, maybe one day someone will write one of those books "1001 ideas" to use a smile card. Of course the smile card is just a good excuse to spread some kindness in the world. I have seen people's life change over night with the power of kindness, instead of concentrating in what's bothering them, they decided to look around and find out where to help, once they shift their attention to the needs of others amazing things happen. The biggest lesson I have learned in my kindness journey is that the time to be kind is NOW.
I agree Tabbi, my husband has been posing this question for the past few months: How is it that we teach our children to share, to work out differences, that caring for others, being honest, and being kind are the most important qualities to aspire to.....what changes when we become adults? What happens? What in our adult culture turns?
It is strange that in today's times small acts of kindness have become difficult to understand.
I'm a muslim and it is part of our religion and our way of life, so its nothing new to me. I have grown up with acts of kindness all around, being given and being taken.
I know its a part of christianity too. Some of the kindest people I have come across have been christians.
So...then what has happened? The capitalist way of thinking has spread over the world. like a disease