The warm gloves in your bag can become an answer to someone else’s cold hands.

Carrying a little more than you need turns you into someone who can help without planning to. A spare pair of gloves is nothing until you are standing beside a person whose hands are cold, and then it is exactly the right thing at exactly the right time. Most everyday generosity works like this. It is less about kindness in the abstract and more about happening to have the useful object within reach.

Keep a small surplus in your bag: gloves, a spare hat, water, some change. You will not need most of it, and once in a while it will meet someone at the right moment.