Doing small acts of kindness is your superpower! You don’t have to be a saint or hero to practice kindness.  The more you do it, the more it becomes a part of who you are. Every day you have a choice in how you are going to treat people, choose kindness.  Today, for World Kindness Day, if you’re not already doing this, I’m asking you to commit to doing small acts of kindness on a daily basis. 

“The compassion shared from one spontaneous random act of kindness is elevating, priceless and not easily explained.  It is an instant connection between souls that can change a life forever.”  – Rutger Bregman

Kindness is not only good for the person you’re kind to, it’s also good for you.  The warm feelings we get from helping others come from the release of feel-good hormones such as oxytocin. The health benefits include reduction of stress, decreased depression, increased life expectancy, lower blood pressure, and reduction of inflammation in the cardiovascular system – which means kindness literally makes our heart happy.

Being kind to another human being is powerful.  Kindness opens the heart and mind and helps us see things in new ways. It takes us beyond our own thoughts and feelings to the concerns of others and gives us a better perspective on our own ups and downs. 

Some people are afraid they are being scammed so they don’t extend kindness, here’s a beautiful quote that might help you rethink that concern:

“My dad gave $50 to a homeless guy who said he needed it for his sick child, and when I said he’s probably scamming you, going to buy liquor or something, my dad said, if he’s lying, that says something about HIS character, but hearing someone in need and not helping when I can, says something about my character.”

 Unfortunately, I didn’t write down the name of the person who said this, but I find it a powerful quote. 

We can heal the world with kindness. But we need to get past thinking, I can’t do anything to help, or there’s too much need and I’m only one person.  Even a single act of kindness that helps just one person for one day is a gift.  It’s not about healing the world by making a huge difference. It’s about healing the world that’s around you. That’s where your power is.

While you may want to help everyone, you need to start small. You have to say, I know I can’t provide help to all who are suffering, but I can do one thing to help someone.  I can take one action that will help one person.  If you need inspiration for what one person can do, look no further than all of our Kindness Grant and Award winners.

I’ve been thinking about the way, when you walk
down a crowded aisle, people pull in their legs
to let you by. Or how strangers still say “bless you”
when someone sneezes, a leftover
from the Bubonic plague. “Don’t die,” we are saying.
And sometimes, when you spill lemons
from your grocery bag, someone else will help you
pick them up. Mostly, we don’t want to harm each other.
We want to be handed our cup of coffee hot,
and to say thank you to the person handing it. To smile
at them and for them to smile back. For the waitress
to call us honey when she sets down the bowl of clam chowder,
and for the driver in the red pick-up truck to let us pass.
We have so little of each other, now. So far
from tribe and fire. Only these brief moments of exchange.
What if they are the true dwelling of the holy, these
fleeting temples we make together when we say, “Here,
have my seat,” “Go ahead — you first,” “I like your hat.”

                                                                      — Danusha Laméris

“What an incredible power we have, to walk through the world, making somebody’s day.” – Krista Tippett

That’s the power of kindness, that’s your superpower.  

Is there someone who inspires you with their kindness?  Nominate them for the Matt Kurtz Kindness Award of $250.

Do you have an act-of-kindness project you want to do but need help funding it?  Submit your idea for the Matt Kurtz Kindness Grant of $500 and let us help you spread kindness.