10+ Heart-Tingling Kindnesses That’ll Change Your Mood

You know that feeling when your day is going horribly wrong? Coffee spills, trains get delayed, wallets vanish...it feels the universe is against you. But sometimes, someone swoops in and restores your faith in humanity. Not with a grand gesture, not with a viral-worthy stunt, but with a tiny, real act of kindness that hits you like a plot twist in a movie.

• The other day I dropped my wallet at the grocery store. When I realized it was gone, I ran back panicked, but someone had already handed it into the customer service desk. It wasn’t a big sum of money, but my ID and a few sentimental cards were in there. The person who found it didn’t even leave a name—just said, ‘I know how it feels.’ Made me feel like people aren’t all terrible." — Sara L / Bright Side
• I was standing in the pouring rain, trying to call an Uber that kept canceling on me. My phone was nearly dead, my shoes were soaked through, and I was certain I was about to end up sleeping on the street. Suddenly, a guy in a hoodie came running toward me. My heart started racing, and I panicked, taking a step back. But then he stopped in front of me, pulled out a spare umbrella, handed it over, and said, “You look like you need this more than I do.” I just stood there, stunned, not even sure how to respond. —  Kate H / Bright Side
• When I was five, my parents were taking me to visit my aunt for the summer. At the airport, I ended up sitting next to another kid who had these little Lego cars glued together. We spent nearly an hour building imaginary tracks and crashing them into each other. When it was time to board, I assumed we were done—but he insisted I take one of the cars. I argued, said he should keep them, but he said, ‘No, it’s proof we’re friends.’ I still have that car packed away with my childhood things, and every time I see it, I remember that someone I barely knew treated me like I mattered." — John S / Bright Side

• My husband brought a stranger to sleep in our home several years ago. He was returning from a work trip in NY and sat next to an older lady, probably in her 70s, trying to return to Cuba after visiting her sick child. She was alone, didn’t speak English, and was scared after a flight delay, planning to sleep in the airport. My husband called me to ask if she could stay at our house until her early flight the next morning.
  
  We felt so bad for her. I moved my daughter, remade the bed, and had hot food ready. When she arrived, she cried, unable to believe our kindness. We contacted her NJ family to let them know she was safe. The next morning, we made her cafecito and tostada, and my husband took her to the airport. We sent her family in Cuba a little money. They emailed to thank us profusely. I think of her often; a lot has changed since that night—my kids are grown, and my mother, also named Norma, has passed. © musesx9 / Reddit

• A guy on the 22 bus in San Francisco gave me a flower out of his bouquet when I was on my way to my first job interview. He wasn’t creepy and wanted nothing but to make my day a little brighter. It really lifted me up and made me feel a little less nervous." © AffectionateOven7719 / Reddit
• At the grocery store checkout, I realized I didn’t have my wallet. My face went hot as people in line sighed. A teenager behind me whispered, “Come on, some of us have places to be.”
  I wanted the floor to swallow me. But then that same teenager pulled out his card. “Just ring it up,” he told the cashier. “I’ll cover it”. I protested, but he cut me off: "My mom always said not to make people cry in the produce aisle."— Mark B / Bright Side

• Someone stole my lunch 2 days ago. I posted a note I just wanted the bowl back, and signed it “a broke college kid” to guilt whoever stole it. A complete stranger read the note and contacted me and insisted on replacing a single plastic re-used to-go container with this.

• I was standing in line at the pharmacy behind this older man who wouldn’t stop grumbling about “kids these days glued to their phones.” I thought, great, another stranger about to lecture me on how my generation is lazy. When it was my turn at the counter, I realized I didn’t have enough to cover the cost of my meds. I felt my face go hot. The man sighed, reached into his wallet, and covered the rest without even looking at me. As he left, he just muttered, “Don’t tell anyone I did that.” He was cranky, sure. But he was also quietly generous. — Bob H / Bright Side
• Dropped all my groceries when a bag ripped. Some guy walking by laughed, and I wanted to scream at him. Then he crouched down, started helping me pick stuff up, and pulled a reusable bag from his car. He looked slightly embarrassed, muttering, “Happens to me too.” Not a perfect movie moment — he laughed at me first — but still, somehow, helped. — Meghan M / Bright Side

• The other day I was pushing my daughter (full-time wheelchair user) down a steep ramp coming down from a railway bridge when suddenly a small lever holding the left side of the handle to the chair pinged off, and her chair ran away from me slightly. Luckily the other side held, but I still shrieked in panic. We got to the bottom, and the people behind me and the cyclists who had been waiting for us to finish coming down the ramp all asked if we were ok, and when I explained the lever had broken off and fallen somewhere, they all spent quite a few minutes searching bushes and brambles to try to find it, and more passersby joined in. Unfortunately we didn’t find it, but the cyclist dad was insanely well prepared for all eventualities, and he tied the handle together with strong elastic so we could walk home. Everyone was so lovely. © Playful-Cranberry-59 / Reddit

• We took our first flight with my 6-year-old old who has level 3 autism and severe sensory processing disorder. The flight was from St Louis to Newark, NJ so it was nearly 3 hours. I prepared in every possible way, scared she was gonna have a meltdown mid air. I brought the iPad, speech generating device, earplugs, compression vest, weighted blanket, sensory toys. None of it mattered about 2/3 of the way through the flight when my daughter decided she wanted to go home. For nearly an hour she screamed her little lungs out. She has a scream that is hard even for me, her mother, to endure. She kicked and flailed. I had to pull her onto my lap, wrap my arms around her, and my legs around hers. Occasionally she’d wrench free and hit me. I closed my eyes and tried to shut my mind to the fact that my lowest parenting moment was happening in front of a hundred strangers who were all trapped, having to witness it.
  
  When we finally landed, I burst into tears walking down the aisle. This was back in april. As overwhelming as the flight was, I’m still more overwhelmed by what happened afterwards. A man who had been seated by us carried our luggage for us. A woman, also traveling with a young child, spoke to me with such warmth and kindness it was clear she meant it. She told me that I was a good mom, and I did everything I could to try to calm my daughter. She said people understand autism more now, and the people on the flight knew she couldn’t help it. Her boy wanted to get going, and she said, “We will in a minute. Right now we’re helping.” Another passenger started telling my daughter in ASL that she was beautiful. She said she worked with kids who were nonverbal and that everything was going to be okay. Yet another passenger, a doctor, asked if we needed any help. A literal crowd of the same people we tortured for an hour, who probably couldn’t wait to get out of that airport, took the time to make sure we were okay. © Forsaken_Creme1842 / Reddit

Small acts of kindness break through the noise: from strangers lending a hand to everyday heroes choosing compassion, goodness is everywhere. Check out more stories here.