“Kindness costs nothing.” I remember my dad saying those words often when I was growing up. Sadly though, while that statement may be true, kindness seems to be a rare quality in our world these days. To mark Global Pay It Forward Day on April 28, this week’s theme for Simple Living Sunday is Kindness.
In a world where you can be anything, be kind.
Jennifer Dukes Lee
Three simple pleasures and highlights
Continuing my practice of celebrating the simple things in life, here are three simple pleasures and highlights of the last week.
- My daughter Laura is finished college. I can’t believe how quickly the four years she spent there have flown by. Last weekend, I went to help her move into her new apartment. It’s exciting to see her move on to the next phase of her life.
- Our “sprinter” weather continued this week with a snowstorm earlier in the week followed by some warmer weather at the end of the week. I was excited to see some American Goldfinches at our bird feeder along with my favourite birds, the Northern Cardinals, who stay around all winter.
- The eggs in the turtle nest I adopted in the Pag-asa Pawikan Protection and Conservation Center in the Philippines have hatched. Those adorable baby pawikan are now swimming freely in the ocean. You can read more about the great work the center does in this post from Markus + Micah.
This week’s simple living focus: Pay it forward with kindness
I find it a little distressing that we even need days like Global Pay It Forward Day or its cousin Random Acts of Kindness Day to remind us to do things that were once considered common courtesy.
Research has shown that being kind increases our wellbeing. And the good news is, the simple things have the biggest impact. The American Psychological Association found that small acts of kindness were more strongly associated with overall wellbeing than more formal acts like volunteering, or giving to charity.
And those small acts multiply. When you show kindness to another person, they are more likely to be kind to someone else. Research by Dr. David Hamilton indicates that one single act of kindness can multiply to 125 people within 24 hours. That’s a lot of kindness.
Remember there’s no such thing as a small act of kindness. Every act creates a ripple with no logical end.
Scott Adams
So let’s see what we can do this week to improve our own wellbeing and the wellbeing of others!
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Three things to do this week
Every week, I share three things to do related to the theme for the week. This week I only have one thing for us to do three times. Let’s not wait for April 28. We can make every day Global Pay It Forward Day. Let’s all choose three—or more—small acts of kindness to do this week.
Carry out a random act of kindness, with no expectation of reward, safe in the knowledge that one day someone might do the same for you.
Princess Diana
If you need ideas, check out this post from Perfect Manifesto “55 Random Acts of Kindness You Can Start Doing”. It’s a fabulous list of simple things that will make a difference in someone’s day.
And remember, according to Dr. Hamilton’s research, your three acts of kindness will ripple to 375 people. That’s the kind of math I like.
What acts of kindness will you do this week? Tell me your thoughts below.
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Before I had Charlotte, one of the things I knew I wanted to teach my kid(s) is how important being kind is… your dad was right, it really doesn’t cost anything to be kind and it can really change someone’s life depending on when you catch them with your act of generosity! We never know when a simple act of compassion can help pull someone up from whatever they might be going through in their life… I always try to remember that… if it costs me nothing (especially in terms of time or money) then why not… I’d want that same compassion back towards me…
P.S. Omg! The turtles are soooo tiny! How wonderful! 🙂
P.P.S. I was born and raised in Canada and this is the first time I’ve ever heard of the term Sprinter! LOL… hehe learn something new every day! Thank you! 🙂
I think kindness and compassion are important things to teach our kids. They are values I always tried to instill in my girls when they were growing up.
Ha ha. “Sprinter” seems to be a fairly new term but I have heard it so many times this year and it’s so fitting.
The thing about kindness and compassion is… it’s hard to understand the impact unless you yourself were a recipient of kindness and compassion when you needed it most… so I am trying my best to instill that in raising Charlotte… 🙂
That’s such a great point. When I went through cancer treatment, I was blown away by the kind things people did for me and how many people wanted to help. Most of the time I was okay but just knowing there were people there if I needed them made such a big difference.
Great news about the turtles! So cute and it’s lovely what you’re doing for the environment.
I didn’t know how far acts of kindness can ripple.
Thanks. Yes, the turtles are so cute. I adopted another nest. It’s easily worth $10 for the smiles and the good feelings.
Lovely post and very true. It costs nothing to be kind! Who knows if a smile, compliment, etc.. was just what the receiver needed from you. I remember one morning simply saying Good morning to a person and they actually said:”Thank you for acknowledging me!”
It’s true that a smile or kind word can make such a big difference to someone who needs it in that moment. Everyone deserves to be acknowledged and treated with kindness and respect.
Today my sister and I are going down to surprise our youngest sister for her birthday! We intend to have a fine time together and come back home for a home-cooked meal.
Those baby turtles are so, so cute! I love how many of them there are. 🙂
That sounds like a fun day, Jaya. I know…the turtles are just adorable. I was so surprised and happy to see them all.
Many thanks for supporting the sea turtles, Michelle. This act of kindness indeed ripples, hopefully until the next 100 years! Also, good luck to your daughter – it must be an exciting but also stressful time for you all?
My pleasure. I was so excited to see the post with the pictures. It was good for my soul.
Yes, it is very exciting to see my daughter moving on with her life. She’s just happy to be done school. I’m more stressed about everything else than she is, but that’s always the case!
Agree it’s a bit sad that we need specific days to remind us to be kind, but we do so let’s make the most of them and extend beyond as much as we can further.
I don’t mind that the days exist. What I find the saddest is when I see things like “holding the door open for someone” on a list of suggestions. I can’t imagine not doing that, but I suppose many people just go about their day on autopilot. Have a great day, Monty!