Wahba - Kindness Boomerang

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This book is in memory of my captain, my grandpa. He may have lived a simple life, but his legacy is far from simple. He didnt only speak words of kindness; he did much more than that. He lived them and by so doing inspired myself and every family member to live kindness through and through. To you, grampsi, our captain, thank you for paving the path for us to follow and equipping us with the tools and confidence to pave our very own path in the spirit of kindness, love, tolerance, and compassion. Heres to the road not yet traveled, the path not yet taken, the change awaiting to be discovered. And heres to all those out there courageous enough to take the journey with me one step at a time.

When kindness is shared it grows. And every bit of kindness we put out into the world comes back in some way. Thats the kindness boomerang. I wrote this book of 365 daily acts, reflections, inspirational quotes, and stories to help remind myself and others of ways to spread kindness to those around us. Each day of the year has an entry, but you can jump around or ignore the dates altogether. I focus on twelve different themes of kindness, each denoted by a symbol, and I encourage you to read the ones you find most meaningful and share the ones that may not apply directly to your own life. If you are no longer in school, share acts of kindness in the school with a young person in your life, or if youre still in school, share acts of kindness in the workplace with others you know in the professional world. I welcome you to make this book a part of your daily routine or simply pick it up from time to time. Kindness has no limits.

I was a middle-school teacher for seven years in Brooklyn, New York, before leaving to found my nonprofit Life Vest Inside in 2011, with a mission to make kindness a global trend. During my time teaching, I had the unfortunate task of helping my students cope with a death in our community. In January of 2007, I boarded a plane to set out on a family vacation. During an airport stopover, I checked my voice mails, and received the tragic news that a young girl from my community had passed away. As a teacher, I had already encountered grief in my classroomjust three years prior, my students had lost a classmate, and right before winter vacation they opened up to me about it for the very first time, asking questions that arent exactly easy to answer. Why do bad things happen to good people? Why did she die at such a young age? I had just started to get through to them and now they would be faced with the shock and pain of yet another tragic death. Naturally, my first reaction was panic: How would I help my seventh-grade students make sense of yet another tragic loss? How do you find order in such a chaotic world? How do you stay afloat when so many of lifes events seem to pull you downward?

Moments after I listened to the voice mail, I boarded the second plane for my connecting flight. As I sat dazed and disheartened, I looked to my left and a small sign caught my eye: LIFE VEST INSIDE. My eyes fixated on those three small words, I smiled and felt an instant comfort. A life vest has the ability to stay afloat regardless of how much one may push down upon it. Our life vest, our ability to overcome our hardships, to make it through, comes from inside. Through the kindness we bestow on others and through the kindness others bestow upon uswe help keep each other afloat in the stormy seas of life. We cant prevent lifes obstacles, mishaps, and curveballs from coming our way, but what we can do, what we have the power to do, is to throw someone a life vest, a lifeline of kindness. Perhaps they may still be surrounded by the rough waters of life, but that vest is the difference between life and death; giving them the hope that they can pull through.

Kindness changes lives, it helps us rise after we falland the moment I saw the words LIFE VEST INSIDE on that plane I made a conscious commitment to spread that message to the world. I would never have imagined back then that those three small words would in fact become something I live by.

One of the first things I did as CEO of Life Vest Inside was make the video Kindness Boomerang, which shows how one act of kindness inspires another and another, and finally comes full circle. I was lucky enough to get the wonderful song One Day by Matisyahu, one of my favorites, to play in the background. This video has now been viewed over twenty million times.

Ive been the recipient of so much kindness in my life that its inspired me to live more kindly toward myself and those around me. Its a ripple effect that begins with one simple act. I hope this book begins a trend of kindness in your own life.

January 1st

Act: Create a list of goals for the day, the week, the year. You have an immense amount of potential and can achieve more than you can imagine. First step is reminding yourself of that!

Quote: Your past is not your future. You have the power to make new decisions for your life starting today. ~Deb Sofield

Reflection: The greatest mistake we can make is allowing the guilt of what we havent yet achieved consume us. Working off of negativity will never get you very far. Instead of looking at the gap between where you are and where you want to be, stop for a moment and look behind you at how far youve come and the small goals youve achieved. Use that momentum to propel you forward so that you can reach your next goal, your next achievement. Heres a tip: Its better to create smaller, more attainable goals than one larger-than-life goal. Break things down into their steps and climb the ladder one rung at a time.