Turn down the furnace and warm up with kindness
It's February (brrrr!)
It sure has been cold. Thank goodness for February, a month loaded with opportunities to warm our hearts and minds.
February hosts not only Valentine's Day, but Random Acts of Kindness Week.
This months Positive Planner offers some thoughts on cultivating kindness and practicing Random Acts of Kindness.
Warmly (metaphorically speaking, anyway),
Michelle
The data are in!
Recent research has revealed that kindness is associated with happiness, optimism, and satisfaction. And what's more, happiness, optimism and satisfaction are associated with all kinds of other benefits, such as health, creativity, high performance, social success and longevity.
Several years ago, renowned psychologist Dr. Martin Seligman wanted to test out a an idea with a group of undergraduate students at the Universtiy of Pennsylvania. He assigned each of these students two tasks: to do something pleasurable for themselves, and to do something kind for someone else. The students overwhelmingly found that practicing kindness toward someone else was much more gratifying than doing something for themselves. This experiment has been repeated many times since, and the results are always the same.
Cultivating kindness is easy. Just do something nice for someone. It will be so rewarding that you will want to do it again and again. By cultivating kindness in yourself and passing it on to others, you are not only providing a gift to the world, you are providing a gift to yourself. Practicing kindness is the ultimate "win-win".
Random Acts of Kindness
"Perhaps we're too embarrassed to change or too frightened of the consequences
of showing that we actually care. But why not risk it anyway? Begin Today.
Carry out a random act of seemingly senseless kindness, with no expectation of reward or punishment.
Safe in the knowledge that one day, someone somewhere might do the same for you."
Princess Diana
In 1982, on a placemat in a restaurant in California, a woman wrote "practice random acts of kindness and senseless acts of beauty". The idea began spreading like a virus. Today, any search of the internet will offer hundreds of sites devoted to acts of kindness. Talk about a positive virus!
Here are ten ideas for random acts of kindness that you can try.
Put a coin in an expired meter.
Send a letter to someone who made a difference in your life, thanking them for what they did.
Pay the toll for the person in the car behind you. Smile and thank the toll booth attendant and tell them you are paying it forward.
Buy coffee for the person behind you in line.
Buy a gift magazine subscription for someone.
Volunteer at a hospital, nursing home, or shelter.
Help an older person with their chores, errands, or housework and be sure to spend some time chatting with them.
Leave an extra big tip for your server at a restaurant, along with a little note of thanks.
Volunteer to read to children at the library or to rock babies at the hospital.
Buy someone a small gift or greeting card just because.
What other ideas can you come up with?
|
More Quotes
"If you want others to be happy, practice compasion. If you want to be happy, practice compassion."
Dalai Lama
"A bit of fragrance always clings to the hand that gives roses."
Chinese Proverb
"Loving people live in a loving world; hostile people live in a hostile world. Same world."
Wayne Dyer
"Remember there's no such thing as a small act of kindness. Every act creates a ripple with no logical end."
Scott Adams
Random Acts of Kindness Week
February 9-15 of this year has been designated Random Acts of Kindness Week.
Why not mark it in your calendar and practice some random acts of kindness? I'm sure the experience will be truly gratifying!
There is an organization that is dedicated to promoting kindness throughout our communities and the world. The Random Acts of Kindness Foundation is devoted to inspiring people to practice kindness and to "'pass it on" to others. They provide free educational and community ideas, guidance, and other resources to kindness participants through their website, www.actsofkindness.org.
Positive Plan Updates!
To learn more about the services I offer visit my website www.positiveplan.com
Look for a special Valentine's Day issue of the Positive Planner sometime around...Valentine's Day.
As always, feel free to forward this newsletter to anyone who you think would be interested. If you have received this from someone else and would like to subscribe, click here.
|
