20 Easy Acts of Kindness

This week is Be Kind to Humankind Week (#BK2HK), which is an annual celebration of kindness that is recognized globally. It’s a week, according to the BK2HK site, “of reflection and kind thoughts of others to make this world a better place.” With all the upsetting things happening in the world every day, showing a little kindness towards others is one way to help make this world a better place. Plus, being kind to others not only makes them feel good, but makes you feel good as well. Science says so!

The BK2HK.org site has some great suggestions for acts of kindness you can show every day this week, but I’ve rounded up a few of my favorite easy acts of kindness, which you can start doing today and continue practicing every day!

1. If you’re driving, and don’t have an E-Z Pass, pay the toll for the person behind you.
2. Give up your seat on the subway to an elderly, pregnant or disabled person.
3. Bring food to an elderly neighbor, or single parent, who could use the extra help.
4. Hold the door open for people behind you.
5. Give a stranger a compliment.
6. Smile at others you pass while you’re out walking.
7. Leave a big tip, if you can afford it, for your waiter or waitress.
8. Strike up a conversation with someone who is sitting alone at a social gathering.
9. Buy a meal – even if it’s just a hamburger and water from a local street vendor – for a homeless person that you see sitting outside.
10. Send a note – an actual handwritten note that you send in the mailbox – to a friend you haven’t spoken to in a while, or your grandparents, or other relatives you don’t see often.
11. Offer to help someone move.
12. Reach out to someone you know who is going through a difficult time and lend them your support, and a shoulder to cry on or ear to listen, if they need it.
13. Bring snacks into the office for your co-workers.
14. Stand up for someone who is being bullied, even if you don’t know them.
15. Let someone who is in a rush go ahead of you in line.
16. Say thank you to the cleaning person in your building or office.
17. Adopt a rescue or elderly animal.
18. Forgive and forget.
19. Donate to your favorite charity, whether it’s money or supplies (i.e. clothing, school supplies, cat/dog toys and food, canned foods, etc.).
20. Volunteer.

What are some ways that you like to offer kindness?

“Kindness is the language which the deaf can hear and the blind can see.” – Mark Twain