Another cool product spotting!

This time L'Occitane "Citrus Verbena Body Lotion".

I received some as a gift & was pouring over the packaging (as I love to do with beautifully designed products) and felt some unusual raised dots on the side panel.  I looked closer and realized that it was Braille.

HOW FREAKIN' COOL IS THAT???!!!

That's a big fat kindness point for fancy L'Occitane lotion from France!  That is such a beautiful act of kindness for a business to proactively produce packaging that can be read and enjoyed by people who cannot see.

There is a bit more to the L'Occitane kindness story, as I realized when I went to their website.  This company has started a school in Provence for the blind and poor-sighted to instruct in the sensory art of perfume-making.

I LOVE such acts of kindness from such big companies!  It makes the consumer experience so much more personal and intentional.  Indeed, a beautifully designed label that is even better in Braille.

Hi!

I have a few of Tom's Cookie dough balls in the oven right now, turning into deelish, gooey, chocolate chip cookies & I had to get online and share the "packing" insight from Tom himself.  The side of the box says (verbatim):

BE KIND TO ANIMALS - My best friend in life is Ivan, a golden retriever I rescued from a shelter.  Support your local animal shelters & teach an old dog (or cat) a new trick.  They'll love you forever!

BE KIND TO YOUR COMMUNITY - Tom's Cookies regularly donates to civic organizations, schools and youth groups.  Get involved - you might just earn some brownie points.

BE KIND TO WOMEN - Never, ever underestimate the power of a woman.  I learned to bake from my mom and grandma, and the women I work with are invaluable.  Give all women the respect they deserve and have so rightfully earned.

BE KIND TO YOURSELF - Enjoy my cookies often!

As well, the tub the cookie dough balls are packaged in says "REUSABLE TUB" , so Tom is also advocating kindness to Mother Earth.

Now THAT'S a sweet product!

----oh, perfect timing:  I'm going to go get my cookies out of the oven!

Last week was National Administrative Assistants week.  This may sound odd, but I feel that if I had an assistant to help me with the multiple balls I've got in the air, I would have been able to share ideas for appreciating secretaries before (rather than after) the spotlight was on them.

Nevertheless, some ideas:

Secretaries and assistants who are always at their desk, should have the nicest "real estate" in an office.  She reports that when the executives in her DC non-profit are traveling or offsite for meetings (which is often), their window-graced offices are empty.  She thinks that the more you're at your desk (particularly if you're doing tedious work), the more you deserve an enjoyable work space, nice view, sunlight or whatever...  This kind of throws hierarchy and tenure on it's head, but I really like the idea. (my wise friend M. shared this idea)

Appreciate, appreciate, appreciate ---I fall into the take-it-for-granted trap at home with my husband.  The little things that are part of his "job" in our household, often don't get acknowledged.  But he smiles every time I say something like "thanks for making the bed this morning" or "I know you do it every month, but I really appreciate you organizing and paying the bills."

Buy her/him a drink.  Whatever the trusty assistant drinks (soda, sparkling water, Starbucks, Red Bull), drop it by their desk and say "thanks for keeping our wheels greased around here" (or just "thanks" is fine :)  It's a thoughtful act that shows you are paying attention to the things they like.

Of course, these are ideas you can share all year, not just when the calendar reminds us of Secretaries Week...

Greetings,

Being someone who seeks out kindness, I am curious about your thoughts on the fine-line between commercialism and kindness.  This balance confuses me a little, as I've thought about blogging about TV shows like Extreme Makeover Home Edition and Oprah's Big Give.  Generally, I think such mainstream (extreme) shows of giving are good.  I, personally (and embarrassingly) tear-up almost every time I watch a family in need get a better-than-their-dreams home.  Sure, the show is seeded with promos & product spots from manufacturers, but that's "all in the business" of TV and such partnerships.

I have often thought about a blog shout-out to the celebrities Oprah reports as giving big (Ken Paves and Simon Cowell, for example), but I am, ultimately, more interested in the kindness of everyday people in everyday ways.... Still, the acts of kindnesses that these celebrities demonstrate are important to the people they effect and they set an example for other celebrated personalities & the (countless) eyes that follow celebrity news.  So, as a Kindness Report reader, are you interested in these stories being included in our blog?

I would also appreciate your thoughts on this pickle:  I am a big Oprah fan.  I am also a big fan, in theory, of her reality show Oprah's Big Give.  The premise of this show, if you haven't heard about it, is two teams of adult entrepreneur-type contestants compete in fund-raising challenges that result in "giving big" to an organization with a compelling need.  The results are exciting because the show always ends in a huge demonstration of community kindness.  Hoorah!  What is not so fun is the "competition" between the teams.  It irks me that there is bad-talking and a bit of The Apprentice's I'm-the-winner-you're-the-loser thing going on.  It is, to me---and maybe I'm being idealistic---a display of unkindness between folks working to, ultimately, bring kindness to the planet and learn about the "business of non-profit fundraising" in the process.

It is possible to run a business and be successful in its mission without imposing failure on others, or disrespecting laborers or natural resources.  It has been done (The Body Shop, Patagonia, Ben & Jerry's, and many many others....) & it's that business model that would be a good measure for Oprah's Big Give, rather than a "You're Fired!" metric.  Anyway, what do you think?

With that I better get back to the "business of spreading kindness"!

Wouldn't it be nice if you approached the counter of your local coffeeshop, ordered your non-fat tall skinny two-pump vanilla sryup latte and found out it was already paid for?

It's called Pay it Forward. I first read about it here.  You can read about this simple yet brilliant idea catching on from Florida to Illinois to Washington.

The idea is simple. As you pay for your coffee, tell the barista that you'll pay for the next customer. Hopefully the ripple effect will reach them and they'll offer to pay for the next customer and so on and so on. It's always the small acts of kindness that can have the biggest effect on people.

Good karma is better than no karma right??