Friday, October 11, 2013


Happy Friday!

Are you still counting your blessings? Like for real…by writing them down on paper? I’ll be honest…I’ve forgotten a few nights so I’ll be sharing soon what I’m doing to combat that. Let’s make being grateful part of our daily lives, forever and ever…

Feel Good Tip#2:  Do random acts of kindness!

There’s something powerful about being kind to someone who’s not expecting it or doing something out of the norm just to show your thanks and appreciation. There’s something special about being generous and doing more than your fair share. It makes the ordinary, extraordinary.

So, you may be wondering what exactly I mean by ‘random acts of kindness’ because the word random doesn’t always evoke nice thoughts. We could easily substitute the word unexpected or super nice for the word random. Essentially, I’m saying do a nice gesture for someone, just because. Do something that you thought about doing for a split second but then decided you didn’t have time to carry it out. Do that thing that you think, “It would be nice if…” The biggest thing here is to DO SOMETHING! So often our good deeds stay trapped in our heads. Let’s act on them and touch someone’s heart.

Here are some examples of random acts of kindness I have done or plan to do.

1.       Give people coupons in the check-out lanes when I see they have something in their cart that I have coupons for.

2.    Write a kind letter to someone or a business.

3.    Prepare a home cooked meal for someone and deliver it to them.

4.    Plan an outing for or with someone just because it’s something they like to do.

5.     Donate things.

6.    Pay off or pay something on someone’s lay away plan at a participating retailer.

7.     Be a good listener, despite being tired.

8.    Give goodie bags to the homeless.

9.    Give of my time, without accepting anything tangible in return.

The possibilities are endless! What random acts of kindness have you done and what do you plan to do in the coming days? Have you ever been on the receiving end of a random act of kindness? How did it make you feel?

6 comments:

  1. I'm sure technically, I'm not supposed to comment on my own post, however, I wanted to get the party started by answering my questions!

    Just a few hours ago I was in a long line at Ross. There was one cashier doing returns and purchases and people were steadily coming to check out. Consumers were looking around for another employee and clearly starting to get agitated. You know the scene. The woman in front of me turned around and said, "You only have a few things and you have your children with you...you go ahead of me. I know how it is." That was a random act of kindness! I very much appreciated that!

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  2. Good food for thought! I think about the "random acts of kindness" all the time but like you said, most of the time it is just a thought in my head. I'm good for sharing coupons or even holding the door for a person with a lot of bags but I guess I could dig a little deeper. It's so easy to get wrapped up in what you are trying to do or just simply get irritated because you are trying to beat that afternoon traffic. Either way, I will try to do better.

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    1. Oh yeah, that's a good one! Holding the door for someone with bags, a baby, double stroller...definitely count as acts of kindness. But like you, I want to dig a little deeper sometimes too. I'm planning to write a note of appreciation to the bakery that made the cupcakes for my daughter's birthday party. I've been using the same one since my wedding 7 years ago and people always comment on how good their cakes/cupcakes are! Thanks for commenting! : )

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  3. Doing nice things for other people really makes you feel good inside. These were some good suggestions that I'll keep in mind this week.

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  4. Your tips are amazing.....people have done random acts of kindness for me....its only fair that I do the same....one time I was at the pharmacy and they only took cash and I was $3 short....the pharmacist paid the rest of my bill...wow right....I paid him back but he didn't even have to do that.....its a shame though that I can think of a time when I could have given someone an extra dollar or too...but you know it's not about that past it's about showing acts of kindness now...because it's never too late

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