We go through our routines day by day, often not thinking about them or questioning them at all. And then at the end of the day we go to bed with that vague feeling that something’s really not right with our lives, but we can’t pinpoint it. I submit to all of you that many of us would go a long way towards solving that by committing more random acts of kindness.
Where To Start?
A random act of kindness can be anything from taking a quick moment during your day to donate to Oxfam by phone, to leaving an unusually generous tip, to sending someone who you think might be lonely a postcard (a real postcard, emails aren’t nearly as nice), to paying for someone else’s purchase at a store, to giving stuff away for free online. There are so many other possibilities; be creative. The more you do it the better you will get at it.
One other way to start is to think of the people you see on a regular basis but are still strangers. These are the doormen or security guards at your work, or maybe the guard at a gated community you live in or frequent, the cashiers at the neighborhood shopping spots, etc. Make a point of greeting these people warmly, and at the very least getting to know their names. You are guaranteed to see a smile on their faces if you do this, and it’s very unfortunate how many people don’t even bother. Reverse the trend.
Excuses Begone!
-”I just don’t have the time”…. You will find that if you are mindful, opportunities to be kind are presenting themselves to you regularly, in the normal course of your daily grind. You just have to be open to them.
-”I don’t trust people”…. If you’re thinking of donating to an organization but not sure about their trustworthiness, you can put your mind at ease by going to a website that has already pre-vetted a bunch of orgs, for example, this one here. It takes a mere couple of minutes, and then you can put your mind at ease. If you want to help someone on the street, give them food instead of money.
-”It won’t make a difference”…. It will! And the most important difference it will make will be the one inside of you. All that positivity will come back to you in surprising and unexpected ways; trust us on this one!
