Next Wednesday, November 13 is World Kindness Day. I don’t know about you, but I could certainly use a little more kindness in my life. Not only is it nice for the person we’re being kind to, but it also gives us some psychological benefits as well. Psychology Today reported that being kind leads to higher levels of positive emotions, decreases the negative impact of physical burdens, lowers depression levels, and helps us to feel more satisfaction in our daily lives.
With that in mind, here are some ideas for random acts of kindness you can use to spread joy today, and every day:
- Bring cookies or other baked goods to your coworkers
- Pick up litter at the park or the beach
- Make an extra casserole one night and give it to a neighbor to save them a night of cooking
- Donate crossword puzzles, word searches, and decks of cards to a nursing home
- Volunteer at a soup kitchen or shelter
- Give a teacher a gift card randomly to go out to eat
- Buy coffee for the person in line behind you
- Leave money in the vending machine for the next person
- Buy extra canned goods on your next grocery run for charity
- Make handmade cards for a children’s hospital
- Babysit for a new mom so they can have some time to themselves for a nap, date night, or whatever.
- Pay for someone’s dry cleaning bill
- Save your BoxTops for Education, and send them to a school in need.
- Bring snacks to your child’s sporting team for after practice
- Post a compliment on 10 people’s social media pages
Once you start opening your heart and your mind, I’m betting a bunch of ideas for random acts of kindness will come to you. On the other hand, if you want to spread more joy, but simply can’t come up with anymore, check out this awesome post filled with 50 more ideas!