Kindness for Kindness Sake

Can we all agree that what the world needs is more love, more kindness, and more Starburst jelly beans?

What’s the kindest thing that someone has randomly done for you?

For me, as a foster mom, and the proud ‘owner’ of the best friends in the world, I get a lot of anonymous gifts from friends when I get a new foster placement: diapers, coffee, donuts, and sometimes all three all at once:

Pretty fantastic, right? One day I opened my front door and found this pile of goodness and had no idea who my magical Donut + Diaper Fairy was. And that’s the great thing about random acts of kindness – they are done from the heart, and are done simply for the benefit of the receiver and has nothing to do with the giver.

Some people may shake their heads at days like today. As if it’s a self-serving gimmick, much akin to Valentine’s Day and Groundhogs Day (oh wait. Maybe just the former and not the latter.) But I love this day, because it gives you a great opportunity to intentionally go out and serve someone who is not going to pay you back in any way, shape, or form. Kindness for kindness sake! Don’t we all need to see more of that in the world today? Yes we do! So let’s be the kind faces, hands, and feet that the world needs! And if you feel like you are too busy, too tired, too poor to help someone else, we have some ideas that require very little of you, but that will mean so much to someone else!

 

Here are some completely free acts of kindness:

• Do you have paper and a pen? Then leave a note for a neighbor, a teacher at your kids’ school, or a co-worker. You can make it ‘fill in the blank’ style if you don’t think you have a lot to say.

Some ideas are: “I like you because you ________” “You are special because __________” “Thanks for ___________” “I want to inform you that ________”

• Offer to babysit for your friend, sister, neighbor. Don’t just say you will one day. Put it on the calendar. Plan to make it happen!
• See that lady in the line in front of you? You love her skirt. Now you are wondering where she got it from. Wonder no more! Tell her you love her skirt! Don’t think about complimenting someone – USE YOUR WORDS! Kind words. We don’t hear enough of them. (This is a tip for lady to lady interaction. If you’re a dude, this is just going to sound like a bad pick up line.)
• If you live somewhere where it’s actually cold and snowy, help to scrape off the ice off of your neighbor’s windshield. Way to warm someone’s heart on a cold day!
• Clean out your kids’ toy bins, and bring their gently used toys and books that they have outgrown to a local shelter. or store just for foster kids. Google it to find one close to you!

 

And here are some ideas that will require a few bucks:

• While you are at the grocery store, buy a few extra food or hygiene items to donate to your local food bank. I heard once that women are able to get some feminine hygiene prodcuts there as well, but when they don’t have much on hand, then women will only get one or two tampons or pads. Does that sound like enough to get someone through their cycle? No! Donating personal hygiene items is vital! Tampons for everyone!
• Tape some money to a vending machine. Doritos are the best. Free Doritos? Basically heaven on earth.
• Pay for someone’s dry cleaning when you go to pick yours up. Or pay for someone’s meal in the drive-thru lane. Cause free food is always the most delicious food!

 

 

Here is a great podcast I recently stumbled upon that talks about having a great attitude of gratitude, because gratitude unlocks a fuller life. We can stop thinking about what we don’t have, and instead leverage the many things we do have to help those who are really in need.