Helping & Healing

The Power of Simple Kindness

Kindness doesn't need to be in the form of a huge feat that everyone knows about. Instead, it can come by way of small actions that are easily done every day.

Here are a few tips we've collected – for children and adults alike – for gentle and kind actions that can be done right now, today. You'll find that doing simple acts of kindness transforms your life because, as Rachel Wolf has said, "Kindness is contagious."

Sparkle Tips for Small Acts of Kindness

• Hug your children, hug your spouse, hug your parents, hug your friends. Giving hugs and receiving hugs has been proven to help improve your health and well-being.
• Do a chore without being asked.
• Hold the door open for anyone in need.
• Pick up trash when you see it.
• Let someone go ahead of you in the grocery store.
• Find a stranger and give them a compliment.
• Plant native flower seeds.
• Put coins in a parking meter about to run out.
• Call someone you love.
• Hold the elevator door for someone.
• Give everyone you meet a smile.
• Pay for the coffee or tea or toll booth fee of the person behind you.
• Thank a postal carrier, police officer, teacher, or military serviceman or servicewoman for their service.
• Spend time with loved ones, unplugged.
• Tell someone a story about hope and kindness.

We hope these tips will help you on your way to create a kinder world. Because after all, many small acts of kindness add up to big change. Kindness will always pay itself forward.

Other ideas:

Here are a few other sources of great ideas for small acts of kindness:

• Anne Lamott's post
• Rachel Wolf's post
• 101 Easy Ideas for Random Acts of Kindness
• Random Acts of Kindness website