Selflessness feels good. Remember the last time you gave up your seat for someone who needed it more and you felt like you were the biggest and sunniest person in the world? Good wasn't it! So imagine how good it would feel if you planned a whole day of bestowing kind acts on people who aren't expecting them? You'll feel good, they'll feel good and the world will be a little bit nicer a place.
Some random acts of kindness take a bit of pre-planning, like:
- Wait for a rainy day and offer to walk people between the supermarket and their car while you hold an umbrella over them.
- Go out late at night and write encouraging messages to people on the pavement in chalk.
- Hand out fortune cookies on your bus or train carriage.
But there are plenty of impromptu acts of kindness you could perform, here are some suggestions:
- Buy a coffee for the person behind you in the queue in the cafe.
- If you see someone's parking metre about to expire then drop a few coins into it and protect them from a parking ticket.
- Help people with prams get on or off public transport.
If you're nervous about the reaction you'll get from strangers there are some kindnesses you can perform closer to home, try:
- Take a round of coffees to the people working in your local charity shop when you go in to donate your old clothes.
- Buy cookies for the people who work at your local train station or for your bus driver, they're probably far more use to abuse than to friendliness.
If you're too shy to perform kind gestures in person how about buying some theatre tickets and sending them to a school in a deprived area, with instructions to give them to the most deserving child.
The world is a crazy place but be brave, thoughtful and polite when you approach people and they'll hopefully see that you're just trying to make their day better (and secretly yours as well.).
