We hear plenty about the negative things – things that generate depression or fear. But what about the beautiful things going on? The stuff that speaks to our soul; makes our breath catch; or can bring tears to our eyes because it deeply moved us?
What would happen if we ALL flooded the media and social media with that?
Random acts of kindness are acts done to aid or lift another. I’m not talking about the acts thought up and enacted for social media recognition. That’s just using someone’s misfortune to feed your own ego.
I’m talking about seeing an elderly neighbor’s yard needing mowing and they can’t do it. You approach and ask permission to mow their yard without seeking accolades to feed your ego or compensation for your wallet.
Or the person in front of (or behind) you counting their pennies, worrying and hoping they have enough to pay for their groceries for their family, and you quietly pick up all or part of their bill.
Or seeing a waitperson cleaning a table, lost in thought, and you see weariness and worry on their face, in their eyes and/or in their energy. You quietly place a large tip on the receipt (or on the table) and leave. No kudos for you. Just an inner peace knowing your anonymously lifted that person for a moment in their life.
Random Acts of Kindness are just that.
Many years ago, I was in line at the grocery checkout. I had a lot on my mind; I was stressed out, overwhelmed and lost in worry. I heard someone behind me say something. I turned around and saw an elderly lady with a kind face.
“Did you say something?” I asked her.
Smiling, she said, “Yes. I said you have such beautiful hair.”
“What? Me? My hair?” It took a moment for her words to penetrate the dense energy I created around me.
She nodded.
“Oh. Well. Thank you.” I smiled back and felt my whole being lighten up. That little random act of kindness cost her nothing other than a few words – but it brightened up my whole day.
We can literally changes lives in an instant, for better or worse.
There was a good movie, Pay It Forward (2000), whose message created the “pay it forward” movement. People across the U.S., because of this movie, were on acts of kindness journeys.
Google defines the phrase “pay it forward” as responding “to a person’s kindness to oneself by being kind to someone else”.
Can you imagine what we could accomplish by flooding the world with quiet random acts of kindness or paying it forward? I get goosebumps thinking about it. We have the power to override the negativity and fear that we are being offered.
Help flood our world with your quiet acts of kindness. Look, everyday, for an opportunity, within your means and capabilities, to lift someone else up.
I challenge you.
By Jan Toomer
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