What To Do For World Kindness Day: November 13

A smile. Picking up litter off the ground. Giving someone a compliment. Saying thank you. November 13th is World Kindness Day and with so many things feeling a bit out of our control, it’s easy to lose sight of the things we CAN control. Simple acts of kindness like sending a letter to a friend instead of texting or letting someone go ahead of you at the store can make an even bigger impact than we may realize.

Benefits of Kindness

There are so many benefits of “being kind.” It’s good for our minds, our bodies, and if we practice kindness on a regular basis it can make us not just healthier but happier too. Pretty cool, huh? Another benefit of kindness is how “contagious” it is. It’s incredible how just the act of smiling at someone can make both you and the other person feel good as well as everyone around you as this goodness tends to have a ripple effect in our lives. It encourages others to “pay it forward.” Consider yesterday, when you held the door open for someone, your one act of kindness probably reached numerous people and maybe even turned their whole day around. Just by seeing your kind gesture! 

Wouldn’t it be nice if kindness was like breathing, sleeping and eating? We do these things everyday without even thinking about it. It’s just a part of our lives. Eat. Sleep. Breathe. Be kind. Repeat. Eat. Sleep. Breathe. Be kind. Repeat. 

You never know what someone else is going through but just maybe one simple act of kindness might brighten their morning. Or their entire day! Perhaps all they needed was for someone to offer a helping hand or just a smile.

KINDNESS FOR OURSELVES

It’s so easy to get caught up in all the “hustle and bustle“ of busy days that we forget about being kind to ourselves. I’m sure most of us beat ourselves up over things that are out of our control. Or we easily forgive someone else for a “goof” but we can't forgive ourselves (for our “goof”). Things happen. Go easy on yourself. Be kind to you. YOU deserve it. 

I find sometimes when the last thing I feel like doing is smiling at the person walking by (or just smiling. Period. Who we kidding?!), it’s actually THE BEST time to “practice.” It’s quite possible that the person you smiled at (and all of those around) needed a smile just as much as you did.

So maybe the next time you’re out and about, see how you feel after your act of kindness or when you witness others being kind. It’s pretty magical! And it’s probably safe to say we could all use a little “magic” in the world these days. Along with lots of kindness! 

TO HONOR & REMEMBER WORLD KINDNESS DAY

Here’s a “Kindness Bingo” challenge that you can do with friends, family, co-workers or on your own. Here’s to kindness!