Below are last week's Tweets for CharityFocus. Spread the good!

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One of my friends went up to a woman at a gas station and handed her a twenty.  "This is for your gas.  Please pay it forward."  The woman bluntly refused the money.

Most everyone wants to be kind, but finding the right opportunity can be daunting task.  So much so that some people give up on kind acts  all-together.  Knowing that challenge, some kindness "experts" step it up -- they create opportunities for others to be kind.

Recently, in India, Jayesh Patel and I visited my grandmother's sister.   We call her 'masi'.  Though she's a widow in her 80s, living alone in poor health conditions, and confined to her home for the whole day, she manages to be quite content. 

At one point in our conversation, she asks, "I want to practice kindess too.  But what could I possibly do?"

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Over the last few years, I've become a big proponent of Smile Cards. The premise behind these small cards is simple: do an anonymous act of kindness and leave a card behind, inviting the recipient to pay-it-forward. If he/she does, the chain keeps going, resulting in "ripples" of kindness radiating out.

Smile Cards are wonderful in ways I cannot count. Small, simple, humble -- yet powerful, because one act of kindness can be the start of a long chain. But for all these reasons, the main reason why I use them is the subtle change that has begun to occur in the way I think.

Recently, I was on a plane reading an intriguing financial book my friend had given me.

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After approximately 1 year of planning, preparing, and putting forth full efforts to bring Karma Kitchen to the great city of Chicago, the time has finally come!  On Sunday, July 11, 2010, Karma Kitchen Chicago opened its doors in collaboration with Klay Oven Restaurant located in the River North area of the Windy City. 

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Volunteering with CharityFocus in any capacity is an opportunity and an invitation.  CharityFocus provides the space from which one can more easily serve with ‘no strings attached.’  For many (myself included), it’s quite rare to do something with an intention of no strings attached, so being intrigued by this idea I’ve been volunteering with KarmaTube (a project of CharityFocus) for the last few years. 

Interestingly, while my intention wasn’t to receive anything in return for my involvement, I’ve found that much has come my way!  As a way to describe what can happen when results are not explicitly sought, here are the 5 most salient ‘benefits’ from volunteering with Karmatube: 

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The folks out in Chi-town have done it -- for quite some time they have been planning a Karma Kitchen in the Windy City, and tomorrow, they launch their pilot. Every second Sunday of the month, for July, August and September, volunteers will  take over Klay Oven Restaurant in Chicago and serve guests the gift of a meal. Of course, the meal is an excuse -- the whole idea is to create an entire experience of generosity, inviting guests to pay-forward the gift. In keeping this chain going, both guests and volunteers help to create a future that moves from transaction to trust, from self-oriented isolation to shared commitment and from fear of scarcity to celebration of abundance.

When: 2nd Sundays of July, August, September, Noon to 3

Where: Klay Oven Restaurant, 414 N. Orleans Street, Chicago, IL, 312-527-3999 

And this is no ordinary group that has come together! Check out their super-well-made video, courtesy of KK Chicago'er Dave Chung:

A recent reflection:

Patience is one of those qualities that doesn’t get much consideration -- especially in our fast-paced 21st century. But there is tremendous wisdom in it. Patience is what helps us let go of an unhelpful obsession with outcomes and with our limited identities. It is a recognition that our reality is in flux and we don't always know what is best. Practiced deeply, patience is what dissolves unexamined reactions and habits of interpretation, allowing us to see things in a way that is more real, more whole, more true. With patience the unknown doesn't frustrate us, and our fundamental questions create a positive sense of wonder and a platform for possibilities. But the trouble with patience is that it usually comes too little, too late. We’ve already yelled at a loved one, or thrown away months of work in despair. So how do we develop patience before we actually need it? Five tools to experiment with:

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Maimonides, often called by his acronym RaMBaM (Rabbi Moshe Ben Maimon), was a 12th century Jewish scholar and physician. Rambam wrote a code of Jewish law, the Mishnah Torah, based on the Rabbinic oral tradition.

Rambam organized the different levels of tzedakah (charity/service) into a list from the least to the most honorable:

8. When donations are given grudgingly.

7. When one gives less than he should, but does so cheerfully.

6. When one gives directly to the poor upon being asked.

5. When one gives directly to the poor without being asked.

4. When the recipient is aware of the donor's identity, but the donor does not know the identity of the recipient.

3. When the donor is aware of the recipient's identity, but the recipient is unaware of the source.

2. When the donor and recipient are unknown to each other.

1. The highest form of charity is to help sustain a person before they become impoverished by offering a substantial gift in a dignified manner, or by extending a suitable loan, or by helping them find employment or establish themselves in business so as to make it unnecessary for them to become dependent on others.

Came across an interesting perspective in a Salon article on Pay What You Can Restaurants, in which an economist tries to explain why allowing customers to decide their own prices is a bad idea. Also of interest to note that I've yet to see any economist refer to any internal shift that happens from truly connecting with another. Our friend Rahul Brown shared some reflections on another forum, which I thought were great:

A few years ago when we were trying to launch InSPIRE's young professional program, we decided to go with 'pay what you want' model instead of gift-economy.  Since we were all volunteers, program expenses equate to actual costs, and so we were trying to boldly communicate our spirit while at the same time hedge on the risk of lacking the funds to make the program happen.  The overall lesson I learned from the experiment is that 'pay what you want' (esp. for things people have never paid for before) can generate confusion, but can also be a doorway to clarity if dealt with patiently.  Sub-lessons include:

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On my first day in a class called "Decision Analysis" at Stanford, I was shocked when Prof. Ron Howard said that you couldn't judge a decision from the outcome. I walked up to him after class and said, "Professor, this is what I have read in spiritual texts - that we are only competent in the action, and the outcome is not in our hands. Your principle is ancient." Prof. Howard replied, "It may be, but these texts don't tell you how to apply this to financial decision-making, and we have worked out the details here." This little conversation ended up changing my life. Here was a field of thought right in the middle of the material world that espoused the deepest spiritual philosophy I'd ever come across. Suddenly, I could be consistent with my material decisions without compromising my spiritual ideals. I had to learn more. After trying most of the classes in the Masters program at Stanford, I decided to continue on a doctoral journey in this field.

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