The Power of Committing Random Acts of Kindness

Posted on: October 24th, 2018 in Mindset by Pat Mesiti | No Comments

What do people aspire to be in this world? Many people aspire to be rich, famous and powerful. Look at the scary people you see on reality television. Is that who most people want to become? A plastic person living a plastic life? If you are going to aspire to anything in this world, aspire to kindness.

What is kindness? Let’s refer to great philosophers of the past to define kindness. According to Mark Twain, ‘Kindness is a language which the deaf can hear and the blind can see.’ Thomas Carlyle explains that great people show their greatness by the way they treat the less fortunate. Frank A. Clark explains that kindness makes everyone feel good whether it’s being done to them or by them. And who in the world needs kindness the most? Unkind people need kindness more than anyone!

Kindness is irresistible and contagious.  The small gesture of kindness can have a huge impact and even change the direction of someone’s life. I believe that kindness improves everyone’s quality of life, whether practised in the workplace or in the general community. Kindness unites people because doing good for others feels good for you and them. Kindness manifest itself in so many ways. Smiling, laugher and being generous is the purest forms of kindness and are totally contagious.

Remember to laugh throughout the day. Spreading joy is its own act of kindness.

This month I am setting you a challenge. I want you to go out every day and commit a random act of kindness. I have been searching the internet for examples of acts of kindness, and I’ve made a list of the best ones. It follows:

Here is a list of random acts of kindness

  1. Let someone in front of you at check-out when next buying groceries.
  2. Open doors for other people.
  3. Always buy a Big Issue magazine. They are sold by homeless people.
  4. Bake some biscuits for the homeless people selling The Big Issue!
  5. Offer to return shopping trolleys for people at supermarkets.
  6. Offer to carry older people’s groceries to their cars.
  7. Volunteer to visit elderly people at a nursing home.
  8. Leave change in a vending machine for the next person
  9. Thank your colleagues at work for their efforts.
  10. Take in or put out your neighbours rubbish and recycling bins.
  11. Make a casserole for someone caring for an elderly or sick person.
  12. Volunteer your services for a fundraiser.
  13. Donate goods to a second-hand charity store.
  14. Write an elderly relative a letter, even send a gift
  15. Offer to walk a neighbour’s dog.
  16. Babysit the children of a couple who would like a night out together.
  17. Offer a lift home to a friend or colleague who normally takes public transport.
  18. Look for ways to serve people in your family, including making breakfast in bed for your loved one.
  19. Help a co-worker meet a tight deadline.
  20. Mow, rake and sweep outside a neighbour’s house.
  21. Spend an hour picking up rubbish at a park, beach or roadway.
  22. Give someone a compliment.
  23. Donate blood.
  24. Leave a positive comment on a community blog.
  25. Ask all your friends and family members to donate the money they would have spent on your birthday and Christmas presents to a charity.
  26. Always remember your manners. Our parents taught us manners for a reason. Say thank-you and please.
  27. Never indulge in petty criticism or gossip. Remember the saying, “If you can’t say something nice, don’t say anything at all”? Keep it positive.
  28. Welcome new employees or neighbours. Introduce yourself to new people, give them a small present and get to know them. We’ve all been the new person at one point or another.
  29. Focus on people’s strengths, not weaknesses. Be slow to criticise and judge but fast to love.
  30. Give your umbrella to a stranger when it is raining.
  31. Bake a cake and take it to work.
  32. While in a cafe, compliment a parent on how well-behaved their child is.
  33. Don't write the angry internet comment you're thinking of writing.
  34. If your group of friends is gossiping about someone, interrupt to say something nice.
  35. Cook a meal or do a load of laundry for a friend who is going through a difficult time.
  36. If you walk by a car with an expired parking meter, put some change in it.
  37. Smile at strangers.
  38. Encourage a child you know.
  39. Post an inspirational quote up somewhere at work.
  40. Phone an elderly relative and have a long chat.
  41. Pay for a stranger’s meal you see dining alone in a restaurant.
  42. Sit next to someone new in church or at a community group and strike up a conversation.
  43. Offer to water someone’s plants or feed their cat when they go on holidays.
  44. Offer to help a co-worker meet a tight deadline.
  45. Email a politician, journalist or writer who has said something that’s had an impact on you, and tell them how that made you feel.
  46. Share some professional information with a young co-worker.
  47. Leave a copy of a great book in a public place.
  48. Send flowers to a dear friend out of the blue.
  49. Compile a playlist of your favourite happy songs and share it with friends and neighbours.
  50. Make a cookery book of your best recipes. Just type them up, print them out and put them in plastic display folders. Give your homemade cookery books to everyone you can think of!

Why not try to do every act on this list. Spread your kindness far and wide. Hand it out to friends and strangers. Kindness is contagious, it will travel beyond these people like a wave into the community, and it will do good.

ABOUT PAT MESITI

Pat Mesiti is a best-selling author, coach and educator in the area of personal development. Having built some of Australia’s largest people-driven organisations, Pat understands the power of harnessing human potential. He has shared the stage with some of the world’s great business minds and has sold over millions of copies of his books and materials.

 

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