Monday, November 22, 2010

Kindness. It's Kind of My Thing

The best portion of a good man's life - his little, nameless, unremembered acts of kindness and love. ~William Wordsworth
Over the past few months, I have been introduced to something life changing, called The Kindness Movement.  Do not worry, this is not some New Agey seminar riddled philosophy of self improvement, or anything like that.  It is actually pretty simple, and really something I knew all along.  It has one premise.  Be kind, always.  Kind of a lofty goal, I know, but isn't it one we should all be striving for?

The Kindness Movement is really picking up speed online, thanks in part to social media.  And one of Pittsburgh's own has a lot to do with that.  For a year, she was known only as Secret Agent L, a girl who went around the city doing random acts of goodness and kindness and day brightening.  Then she decided she wanted to do more, and in order to do that, she needed to reveal her identity.  So, she held a reveal party to raise money for charity.  Now, she continues her do goodery, though no longer anonymous.  But she has hundreds of anonymous affiliated agents around the world, who do similar anonymous acts of kindness.  I am one of them, and let me tell you, it feels so wonderful to do these kindness missions.  Getting them ready is so fun, and knowing you are making someone else's day better is amazing.

Another great group within the Kindness Movement is ItStartsWith.Us, run by Nate St. Pierre.  This global network has several affiliates, including Love Drop, which provides financial support for families in need, and  Love Bomb, another group I am involved with, which finds a blogger each week who is having some sort of personal struggle, and drops a love bomb on them in the form of encouraging and love filled blog comments.  It is amazing how something so simple can touch a person's life.

There are hundreds of ways to show people kindness, it does not require a lot of time or money.  There are tons of other websites that you can look at for ideas, including Random Acts of Kindness.  November is Kindness Month, so what better time to get involved in the Kindness Movement?  It costs nothing, the rewards are overwhelming, and the experience is life changing.