How It All Started
Originally, my little yellow business card was entitled "A GIFT FOR KATHERINE." I designed it to pacify guests who were invited to my annual birthday party. My friends were quite uncomfortable attending without a gift in hand. Repeated attempts to assure them that the only gift I wanted was "the pleasure of their company", fell on deaf ears. Many frustrating conversations ensued. Hence, I created my "gift card" as somewhat of a compromise. It was my attempt to promote spiritual gifts of the heart in lieu of materialistic ones. The yellow business card read simply...
"A GIFT FOR KATHERINE"
* Make someone smile * Give a compliment * Listen intently
* Help a stranger * Do a favor
As William Peterson once said "We give of ourselves when we give gifts of the heart: love, kindness, joy, understanding, sympathy, tolerance, forgiveness, etc.
I wanted my cards to exemplify this sentiment.
I gave each invitee a "gift card" and asked them to follow the instructions when they felt the time was appropriate. The responses were creative, spontaneous, and heartwarming. They exhibited true sparks of spiritual enlightenment on varied levels. They were as diverse in nature as we are as individuals.
* A 14 year old special education student of mine won $25 in a raffle and immediately donated it back to charity.
* A colleague joyously retells her experience of putting a quarter in the expired parking meter of a complete stranger.
* A neighbor began to volunteer regularly at a retirement home.
* A newlywed decided, he told me a week later, to wash the dishes for his new wife without being asked.
The list goes on... But it was after the original out pouring of sharing that I began to realize the cards unlimited potential for spiritual awareness. It was then that I changed the name of my card to "CARING IS CONTAGIOUS" and began distributing these cards wherever I went.
It has been eight years now and I continue to give and mail out these cards to both friends and strangers. I send them with my monthly bills; I enclose them in letters. I leave them at phone booths or on bulletin boards. I pack them when going on vacation. It is wonderful to receive the feedback and trail the cards around the country.
I have received notes from Dave Thomas (the owner of Wendy's) as well as from the Olympic speed skater, Bonnie Blair. Jack Canfield (Chicken Soup for The SOUL) has distributed my cards in New Zealand and the Fiji Islands and wrote to let me know. My last e-mail was from a gentleman from Tel Aviv... before that, a woman from Pennsylvania who found my card vacationing in Pompano Beach, FL (I have never been in Pompano beach!) Celebrity or everyday person, the thrill is the same for me... My message is getting out there...
In this new age of enlightenment, my "card" suddenly presented itself as the perfect avenue to remind others to spread Caring. It could be used, I thought, to awaken those of us who may have become somewhat complacent regarding our emotional and spiritual journeys. I continue to use my card as a grassroots movement. Its goal is to foster kindness and caring worldwide.
I am still amazed at the number of people who ask why I distribute these cards. My reply is simple...
My Caring is Contagious® Card acts as my personal motivator by connecting my spiritual path with my everyday life.. It is my personal reminder to be open for the endless opportunities to perform and promote caring acts. It reminds me to reach out to others, to keep my heart open, to be grateful, creative, and cognizant. In turn, It benefits others... so I benefit. It transcends barriers of all kinds (age, color, cultural differences, location, etc.)... It gives my life purpose and direction.
IT PUTS JOY IN MY JOURNEY!!!
As I coalesce with others via my caring card I truly believe in and feel the contagious nature at which its message is embraced. Scores of people have requested my cards to distribute where they live, work and play. And so begins, what I hope is, the never ending Contagious Cycle of Caring...
It has been said that "None of us can change the experience of every living person, but each of us can change the experience of all those whom we touch. And that's the beginning of the end of pain." My hope is that my grassroots Caring is Contagious movement will assist with the achievement of this sentiment.
I encourage anyone who would like some of my cards (FREE of charge) or would like to comment or encourage... contact me at
giftsofjoy@caringiscontagious.com
Katherine
P.O. Box 3
Bellmore, NY 11710
USA
It is always a thrill to hear from those, all over the world,
who have been touched by my CARING IS CONTAGIOUS® card.