Simple caring acts unite and inspire us
Did you know today is World Kindness Day? This holiday encourages people around the world to be kinder to one another and spread kindness to inspire positive global change. World Kindness Day focuses on how kindness unites us, regardless of race religion and gender.
Kindness is about sincerely caring for others around you. There is nothing more meaningful than taking the time to do something for someone else.
Kindness is power; the power to help someone, the power to move someone, the power to inspire someone. When you start by helping one person with kindness, you never know how far that spark will go.
–RAKtivist
However, making the conscious effort to be kinder takes practice. The more small acts of kindness you do, the more natural it becomes. Here are a few great ideas from The Random Acts of Kindness Foundation:
- at school: reach out to a new student, deliver a list of someone’s best qualities
- for senior citizens: ask about their life, write a letter or postcard
- with your kids: organize a teddy bear drive, create handmade cards
- at work: learn new things about a colleague, mentor someone
- for the holidays: send care packages, use a piggy bank to save for a charity
- for animals: donate items to a shelter, adopt a pet
- for strangers: treat servers well, thoroughly clean gym equipment
- for the environment: reduce paper use; walk, bike or use public transport
- for your community: pick up garbage, shop and eat local
- for yourself: laugh more often, enjoy your favorite place, focus on gratitude
Think about the truly kind people in your life and how they make you feel. Are there things they do that you can replicate in your own heart? I encourage all of you to perform a random act of kindness today – even if it’s something as simple as treating someone to coffee at Starbucks or smiling at a stranger.
According to an article in Psychology Today, “Each time you smile, you throw a little feel-good party in your brain. The act of smiling activates neural messaging that benefits your health and happiness.” So, smiling benefits the person on the giving and the receiving end.
It’s crucial to remember the importance of being kind to ourselves. When you can show kindness to yourself, it’s much easier to spread that kindness to others.
Rose Caiola
Inspired. Rewired.
