1.  I tried to influence my students to realize their capacity of kindness. So here are the details about the project and some of the (89 students)
2. My second act of kindness is about my support to my research collaborator
3. My third act of kindness is about my support for my sisters’ children. She had one Down Syndrome daughter (8 yrs) and one son (7 yrs). She has been pregnant to the third one and had placenta previa. She had to be hospitalized for the last 3 months of her pregnancy. Since I live in the same apartment, I tried to support the kids during her stay in the hospital.
4. My fourth act of kindness is about sharing my professional knowledge about dyscalculia
5. My fifth kindness is about sharing my technological knowledge and experience with my parents, in laws, old relatives and my senior professors. While they were lock down during covid 19, I helped them to download apps they can benefit and set up online shopping, banking, payments, and purchased them (my parents, in laws and aunt) air pods so that they can comfortably listen and enjoy their conversations. I also realized that some of my senior professors are having hard time to use their cell phones without air pods. I did not purchase for them but emailed them what I observed and send the purchase link so that they can hopefully purchase themselves.
6. My sixth kindness is a general rule that I apply in my shopping habits. I do prefer to support local shops wherever I go.  Also, the prices in these shops are not precise and subject to bargain. This is an old tradition that I learned from my own grandparent. I do a small bargain and give that cash difference to the needy right away. If I cannot find the needy person right at that time, I donate online.
7. My last act of kindness is about animals. I am a cat owner. During summer, I made cat house that stays in the garden so that other cats can also share the shelter and the food

1. Donating time and skills to the worldwide mindfulness teacher community by hosting free online live sessions with Jon Kabat-Zinn and Anne Twohig, Mindfulness as a Love Affair with Life.
2. Hosting free weekly drop-in meditations, creating and hosting a website for that community, and providing free services as Executive Director of Mindfulness Practice Center -- all donations stay with the community, no one sees any income -- mindfulnesspracticecenter.org
3.  Providing freely available podcasts on mindfulness for several years, until surgery last year forced a stop: presentmomentmindfulness.com
4. Free mentoring for two new teachers of MBSR, both women, one BIPOC, with the sole requirement that when they have the opportunity to "pay it forward" and make a similar commitment to someone else, they do.
5. Continuing my personal commitment to diversity at work as a volunteer for our BRIDGE (Building Relationships, Inclusivity, Diversity, and Greater Equity) team.  That has included just in the past few weeks hosting day long George Floyd memorial programs, and this week Juneteenth celebration organization and implementation, including a Freedom Walk and company matching of donations to a BIPOC organization, www.dreamtheimpossible.org.
6. Volunteer teaching live online special sessions for mental health topics at work, as well as free drop-in meditation sessions on a weekly basis coming in July to the end of the year
7. Okay, this one's utterly self-serving: adopting shelter dogs, cats, turtles, iguanas, and even snakes over the course of decades.  They enrichen our Forever Home with their presence in our lives

1. Free yoga classes for People Of Colour.
2. Free body relaxation & meditation classes for People Of Colour.
3. Free zoom general yoga classes for all my students.
4. Buying and delivering shopping for elderly neighbours during lockdown.
5. Visiting, calling and offering companionship for isolated and lonely elderly neighbours of colour during lockdown.
6. Baking bread, cakes, biscuits for financially struggling local families with young children.
7. Childcare, looking after friends children to give parents a break during lockdown.

1. My colleague got her first child, so I sent her a nice baby creeper with a text "love" to remind her that children come to this world to be loved.

2. My brother passed away before seeing his first granddaughter. Since then I have been his substitute, a "deputy grandfather" babysitting and taking care of the little one.

3. Being a dog sitter isn't an easy job if you are dealing with a Glen of Imaal Terrier. But I love animals and with treats this Dana-dog is quite cooperative!

4. I cherish my cat Dante every day - but he cherishes me even more. We wake up together every morning.

5. During these pandemic months it has been valuable to find time to friends and keep contacts alive. It has been safe to meet out in the nature, not always an easy job in the Finnish climate, though.

6. In my job at the big exhibition and convention centre, I work in communications and take care of our safety instructions. It is important to protect everybody, including myself.

7. These Karelian pies are complicated to bake and a real rarity. However, I took time and baked some to my family, because my son just adores them.

Bonus act: My aunt is actually 101 years old. She lives alone but is always joyful and cheery. When it was my birthday, I visited her to talk about life and ageing with her. She was very happy and kept telling me how kind it was to visit her.     

1) Volunteering Work 

I am a member of the Paraguayan Mindfulness Association and our mission is to make the practice of Mindfulness accessible to people in our country who may benefit from it regardless of their economic situation. Our work in this institution is pro-bono and we normally volunteer to facilitate Mindfulness workshops and trainings to groups of people in different sectors where we consider this practice might have a significant impact, such as healthcare providers, psychologists, teachers, students, parents of children living with disabilities, among others. 

2) Free Weekly Online Sessions 

I offer free online Mindfulness sessions every Friday for 1 hour. This virtual space provides our local community of meditators a chance to connect, share experiences and ask questions. 

3) Free Guided Meditation 

I offer a Mindfulness meditation which is available for free on the Insight Timer app. 

4) Free Videos 

I offer several videos of Mindfulness talks and meditations available for free on Youtube. 

5) Free Resources 

I also have additional resources I offer for free, such as newspapers and magazine articles I contributed to and an online group forum for Mindfulness students. 

6) Blog 

I share some reflections, experiences and my own personal journey regarding the practice of Mindfulness in my blog. 

7) Free Webinars 

I often offer free webinars or contribute, as an invited speaker, in other free webinars organized by different organizations. I have also organized free webinars featuring international Mindfulness and Yoga teachers who generously accepted my invitation to give free talks to the local community of people practicing Mindfulness. 

1. Sold a large rare plant (Jose Buono) to help pay for a friend’s pet to have surgery.
2. Surprised my mother (who had surgery recently) by completely redecorating her bedroom.
3. Cultivated over a dozen rare plant cuttings for a collector who is depressed.
4. Rescued an injured bird and got it medical care.
5. Helped to repair the back staircase of an elderly neighbor.
6. Cleaned the back of the same neighbor’s house.
7. Adopted a stray animal (her name is Millie)! 

1.     WEDNESDAY (12 May)

I help to run a free weekly Zoom mindfulness class every Wednesday from 18:00-19:00, alternating hosting it with a friend, so that happened.

2.     Some students knocked on my office door, wanting to borrow a book for their Acting Prac. I leant them a personal copy, though it’s always an uncertainty if you’ll ever get it back again, so I guess that was kind.

3.     THURSDAY (13 May)

My wife slipped and fell down the stairs. She was splayed out on her back at the bottom. I got a Physio in to come in and check everything before she moved her neck and legs etc; stayed calm, got pillows and massaged her while we waited and so forth. She’s fine, but it was a pretty scary situation. Thankfully, nothing was broken and we organised a visit to the chiropractor and it’s just bruising and soreness and stiffness that will take time to settle, but there’s no permanent damage done.

Here I’m not going to define the “kindness” as helping her, which was just doing what was necessary and obvious in an emergency situation; but what I thought of as the “extra” was being patient with her when she was scared and bossing me around. She’s a fiercely independent person, so it was difficult for her to be in this helpless situation. So the kindness on my part was trying to respond in a way that was still effective and getting things done, while not taking it personally that she was trying to control the situation from flat on her back and lashing out. So in this case I would define the kindness as having had the opportunity to practise patience in a stressful situation.

4.     At the coffee shop in the theatre building, there are a few books and magazines out for people to read. I donated a few interesting rare magazines and a book to the pile which I thought the customers might enjoy.

5.     FRIDAY (14 May)

In an email to a junior colleague, I had to respond about his request to take time off teaching because him and his partner had both been invited to participate in an arts festival in Bloemfontein. In my email to him, I was excited for them and encouraging, which I thought was an act of kindness, rather than just being business-like about the arrangements which had to be made. 

6.     I met a postgrad student for a coffee to talk about her proposal. When I went to the toilet, the previous guy had kinda spilled on the ground a bit and so I wiped it up to clean the toilet for the next person. (This is like a secret thing I have going sometimes, thinking of using it in a story called “The Toilet Boddhisattva”)… On a related note, I also had to empty my wife’s “pisspot” in the toilet on account of her back etc. (2-photo).

7.     SATURDAY 15 May

I play guitar on Saturday mornings in a dementia ward (St Michaels) which is part of Brookshaw Old Age Home.

EXTRA CREDIT:

On my way to play with the 2 guys above, I impulsively bought 3 little cakes at the bakery – one for each of us. (We were meeting in a different room at the Old Folks Home to rehearse a bit before we went down to the ward.) When I arrived there, though, there were three old ladies having tea, and I could see they were absolutely going to appreciate these beautiful little custard tarts way more than the two guys and myself, so I gave them the sweets.

1. Appreciating mentors, colleagues, and friends. Having positive and mindful people around us is a bliss! So, I try to take each and every opportunity to show them how much I appreciate them. It is sometimes a simple thank you note or a little gesture!

2. Feeding the people you care about. It may sound weird, but I really like to bake, cook, or buy something to eat & drink for people I truly care about.

3. Being involved in charity. We are volunteering two great local non-profit organizations: TEMA and Darüşşafaka. The first one is involved in environmental issues while the second one is to provide support for the education of disadvantaged kids.

4. Doing something for others. With the students at the department, we donated books, clothes, toys for the kids living in the Eastern part of Turkey, which is mainly disadvantaged. We asked for and got an office to teach English to other students in the faculty for free as well. Also, I try to learn Turkish sign language and teach it to the students, who are interested, to raise awareness.

5. Doing extracurricular activities with students. I think it is very important to spend extra time with students outside the class where you can help them grow and build a strong sense of belonging to a community.

6. Showing students the importance of gratefulness. When we used to have face-to-face classes, we would have a board of gratitude at the beginning of each week to remember the small but significant things that make our lives beautiful. They were mainly grateful for their family, friends, health, etc. while I wrote I was grateful to have them as my students.

7. Having Foreign Friends and Exchanging Cultures. As someone who has been an Erasmus exchange student in Europe many times, I love making friends from different countries, learning about their cultures, and showing them what my beautiful culture and country has to offer.

1. Recruited a few friends to collect trash in my neighbourhood

2. I started supplying my neighbour with our excess cardboard that he uses in his small business

3. I donated blood

4. I helped an estranged, and recently divorced, relative move into his new apartment

5. I started calling my recently diagnosed demented grandma on a regular basis, only trying to simply listen and ask questions about a past that she remembers. 

6. I baked a bread for an acquaintance that had recently given birth

7. I wrote myself a letter of compassion, being kind to myself as the last reward

1. Bring pastries for my family

2. Send flowers to friends who have been robbed at home

3. Play piano music in an house for elderly

4. Help my cat doing him injection because he lost one of his limbs during a car accident

5. Bring food to a homeless person

6. Give free piano lessons

7. Do free session of meditation for the community during Summer.

1) The elevator in my building is under repair. I shopped for two of my elderly neighbors and carried their groceries up the stairs. 

2)  I met an elderly couple on my walk. They were sitting on a bench sharing some food in the Sun. I asked if I should take a picture of them so they could savour the moment.

3)  My fathers wife had an operation. I assisted her at the hospital, because her own son couldn't make it. 

4)  My friend's father has been sick, so she has left the city to be with him. I call her every night and we go for walks at the same time while talking. It gives her a time off from taking care of her father full-time. 

5)  A man in the supermarket couldn't remember his pincode paying for his groceries. So I paid for him. A couple of hours later he came to my door and rang the bell and paid me back - without me asking him to do so.

6)  In the building next to mine the door was open. A woman didn't know what to do. I went to the apartment. It turned out the woman was devastated because her son had just died in a traffic accident. I stayed with her for a while, so she should not be alone. 

7)  Afterwards, I helped call the police and make sure the door to the son's apartment was closed. 

1. Called my grandmother

2. Sent postcards to my friends

3. Baked pancakes for my neighbors

3. Smiled at almost everyone who crossed my path during my run

4. Brought flowers to a friend

5. Gifted a book to a former colleague

6. Did some exercises and yoga to take care of myself #selfcompassion.

1. To bring joy and creativity into my 10-year-old son's life.

2. Running a therapeutic group-session for mothers of kids with disabilities

3. Being kind and talkative with my old neigbours, lonely and grumpy as they can be at old age, waiting for a responding smile in their eyes.

4. I seldom drink alcohol, although the taste of «GammelDansk» is a reminder of something good, always in reach. For me, this is the best/funniest part of mindfulness, and an act of kindness towards my body, doing a seldom-but-good-poisoning.

5. Sending my mother flowers at Mothers day.

6. Preparing us for more weeks without meeting and hugging, waiting for her to get vaccinated. Listening to her on the phone, talking about the beautiful flowers.

7. I wear my reusable-mask respectfully and I sort out the plastic, glass and metal, wondering about the end of the world, as we know it. Hoping for a change collectively, prepared by acts of kindness.