This week I needed a tool to put in three spikes for fence posts in my garden. (I thought I might be able to do the job without the tool but opinion on the web was unanimous that the tool was vital!)

I could have bought the tool but – for one-time use – this seemed excess. I asked around to borrow one. But no one had the tool. I called a hire shop – but they didn’t hire the tool out.

However, the person who answered the phone at the hire shop said he had one at home I could borrow. He brought it into the shop especially for me to pick up, even though he wasn’t actually working there that day.

Rob doesn’t know me. Yet he was kind to me. He was kind twice over: he loaned me the tool and he went out of his way to loan it to me on the day I needed it.

Two journals have done studies that suggest that kindness makes you happy – and happiness makes you kind (see here).

Rob’s action certainly made me happy – and just may be that will make me grasp opportunities to be kind to others this week – a positive feedback loop.

The experience reminds me of a wise teaching: do to others as you would have them do to you.

I am going into the week with an eye for the opportunity to be kind – to be kind even to someone I don’t know. Join me – and be happy!

This is Mindful Monday at http://www.essencecheltenham.org on 19 February 2018. Sign up to receive weekly posts in your email inbox or follow on Facebook.

Join us for an evening of practicing mindfulness in Cheltenham on Monday 12 March 2018.