RAK - Random Acts of Kindness

This week is devoted to Random Acts of Kindness.

Martin Luther King Junior once said "Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that"

It is so easy to get down with the state of the world but being witness to just one random act of kindness can lift you up and inspire you to do the same.

Some of these people's acts have been truly inspirational and have prompted an endless ripple of paying kindness forward...

20 ideas for Random Acts of Kindness

1. Send a Facebook message to three people to pay them a compliment.
2. Bring homemade biscuits or a healthy treat to work.
3. When everyone around you is gossiping about someone, be the one to stick up for them.
4. Put your phone away for the evening and focus on those around you.
5. Try not to talk over people. It may have been difficult for them to speak up in the first place. This may give them the idea that you don't think that what they have to say is important.
6. Email or write to a teacher who made a difference in your life.
7. Compliment someone to their boss.
8. Write something nice on that person’s updates who posts on Facebook constantly. They might be lonely.
9. Put sticky notes with positive quotes on the mirrors in public bathrooms.
10. Try to make sure every person in a group conversation feels included.
11. Stop to talk to a homeless person, buy them a warm drink.
12. Give someone a tissue who’s crying in public, and make sure they are okay.
13. Adopt a pet from a local animal shelter or charity.
14. Help your elderly neighbours by putting their bins out or if it is icy or cold outside, ask them if they need anything from the shop.
15. Make plans with that friend that you haven't seen in a while.
16. Buy a lottery ticket for a stranger.
17. Anonymously give a gift card/voucher to someone you know who is struggling to get by but is too proud to ask.
18. Give a compliment about your waiter or waitress to their manager.
19. On Mother’s Day and Father’s Day, think about any friends who have lost a parent the previous year, and send them a message to let them know you are thinking of them.
20. Smile at a stranger just because.

You will probably never know what impact your act of kindness has on the recipient but the smallest of kind acts can have massively important consequences. The following is probably my favourite example of a RAK where the reaction to the act was truly appreciated and the ripple created is truly inspirational, emotional and important. 

#RAK 

#RandomActsofKindness