Random Acts of Kindness

This is a guest blog post I wrote for She’s Intentional (Dainty Jewells). You can find the original post HERE.

Remember in December when everyone felt generous?

We held doors for one other, bellowed “Merry Christmas!” to everyone we passed, threw wads of loose cash in the Salvation Army bucket in front of Walmart, and volunteered to help serve Christmas dinner at the local homeless shelter.

Well…it’s January (Happy New Year!) and the cashier at the gas station this morning didn’t even look at me when she flicked the receipt my way and two people cut me off on my way to the grocery store. I should mention that the store is only four minutes from my house and I had somehow managed to irritate two people in that short distance. These same folks probably would have smiled and waved me in front of them two weeks ago. Just saying…

Whoa…what happened?! Did we somehow toss out kindness and goodwill with the Christmas wrapping paper? Right now, there’s a tiny stereo in my brain playing that song from the Righteous Brothers, You’ve Lost That Lovin’ Feeling, on repeat.

We can do better than this.

And I plan to…

I’ve always found so much joy in leaving little notes and cards for random people, letting them know how much they are appreciated, or encouraging them when I know they are facing a tough time. I’ve left cards and notes on church pews, stuck them in purses when heads were turned, slid them in the front door of houses, and dropped them on desks at work.

I rarely sign my name…on purpose.

RANDOM ACTS OF KINDNESS (R.A.K.)

Performing random acts of kindness has always been a secret joy for me. I love the adrenaline rush that comes from paying for the person’s order behind me in the drive-thru at a fast-food restaurant or at Starbucks, then speeding off before they pull up next to the window. After paying for my order and theirs, I hand the cashier one of the R.A.K. cards I designed (Click on the graphic below to print your own!) and ask them to hand the card to the person behind me when they start to pay for their order.

Think of all the fun R.A.K. opportunities out there! Here are a few of my personal favorites (you can still leave a R.A.K. card for some of these):

• volunteering for a local Special Olympics event
• going to a nursing home and asking to visit with residents that rarely have visitors
• volunteering to tutor students struggling with schoolwork (Not math! I hate math!)
• delivering homemade cookies to new families that move into my neighborhood
• telling a young mom to drop her kids off with me for a few hours so she can enjoy “kid-free” time

There are many ways to show kindness every day. We don’t have to save all that love just for the holiday season. There’s even a website dedicated to random acts of kindness that has a plethora of ideas, quotes, stories of others’ experiences, and more called (ready for this?) Random Acts of Kindness (randomactsofkindness.org).

Ready?! Your turn!

I would love to hear about ideas that you have or how you have used the R.A.K. cards I’ve shared with you.

Love,

Regina