Judy Widener

Tired of Valentine’s Day Commercialism? Then Join Millions Celebrating Random Acts of Kindness Week

Random Acts of Kindness week occurs the same week as Valentine’s Day. You can create opportunities to spread kindness around all week long. If you’re excited by the idea of going beyond giving one gift to one person on one day, this article is packed with inspiration and ideas.

Vanessa is desperate to pull herself out of this trapped feeling. Using the Empowerment principle of shifting her focus to what she wanted to experience, I suggested she might take advantage of an opportunity coming up this month to create more joyful feelings in her day, which would support her need for a more positive working environment.

I mentioned that Random Acts of Kindness week occurs the same week as Valentine’s Day. It’s a terrific idea to go beyond giving one gift to one person on one day. We can create opportunities to spread kindness around all week long. Daphne Rose Kingma describes random acts of kindness as “those lovely things we do when, momentarily, the best of our humanity has sprung into full bloom.” You’re not doing what life requires of you, but what the best part of your nature invites you to do.

The human spirit is generous by nature. So Random Acts of Kindness Week helps us focus on the parts of our nature that bring forth our generosity: the spirits of hope and love. Taking just one minute per day to act on spontaneous thoughts of generosity will give you memories you—and the receiver— will cherish long afterward.

Don’t underestimate the impact of your action on the recipient of your kindness. Dale Carnegie once wrote, “Perhaps tomorrow you will forget the kind words you say today, but the recipient may cherish them for a lifetime.” All of us can remember at least one kind word or deed that, to this day, warms our hearts whenever we think about it. It is a gift that we cherish every time we unwrap and enjoy the memory.

Selflessly kind acts allow us to tap into the strongest force in the universe: love. The transformative power of love exceeds our ability to imagine its limits. It’s the kind of power that Peter Teilhard de Chardin tried to describe when he wrote, “Someday, after we have mastered the winds, the tides and gravity, we shall harness the engines of love. Then, for the second time in the history of the world, we will have discovered fire.”

Today you can accelerate the engines of kindness toward your destination of positive change: nourishing relationships and community connections while inspiring others to pass kindness on. Opportunities abound to enjoy the fun of purely selfless giving.

But if you’re stuck in neutral gear – stumped for kind acts you can do, here are a few ideas to get your creativity going:

• write a joke on a piece of paper and slip it into your child’s backpack

• drop a few coins in your park playground where kids can easily find them

• write a thank you note to someone special in your life

• take a dog for a walk at the local animal shelter

If you’d like to create a special shared experience for you and someone you love, try one of these:

• make a kite and fly it

• practice yoga

• join a book club

• build a bookcase

• volunteer for a good cause

• bake a soufflé

• take a class together, like painting or pottery or even stand-up comedy

• float down a river on a inner tube

Vanessa liked these ideas, and she was especially drawn to my workplace suggestions:

• hold an "honoring diversity" potluck lunch and have everyone bring ethnic foods;

• commit to not supporting gossip in the workplace; and

• place a flower on the desk of each of her colleagues.

Her next step is to put these ideas into action, which will be Vanessa’s way of proving to herself that she has other options than feeling like a victim of a negative work environment.

If you’re looking for even more ideas, check out the websites for the Random Acts of Kindness Foundation, www.actsofkindness.org and the Pay It Forward Foundation, www.payitforwardfoundation.org.

Vanessa felt empowered  in knowing that she would be joining hearts and hands with millions of other people who would be doing the same things that she was. “I’m like a spark plug revving up the engine of global love.” She laughed as she added, “From now on, you can call me Sparky.”

Looking for more creative ideas and tips for expressing your heartfelt feelings? Go to my website, listed below, and download two free e-books, entitled 101 Romantic Ideas and I Love and Honor You.

Article Tags: Random Acts, Kindness Week

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