Awakened Challenge: Random Acts of Kindness

A Collage of Your New To Do List

This is the first in a series of upcoming challenges that will awaken you from your daily sleepwalk.

How would you like to improve your positive mental states and decrease negative stress?

I already told you how kindness can change the world one small step at a time. That was mostly about other people.

This is about you.

Sonja Lyubomirsky, author of The How of Happiness, discovered the magic number of acts of kindness for the best benefit. Five. Just one day. Five acts.

There’s a catch. The five acts of kindness must be deliberate and done consciously if you want the maximum personal psychological benefit.

The research shows that the people committing five acts of kindness throughout the day were happier than the control group, and the feelings of overall happiness lasted days past the experiment.

Your Mission. My Challenge.

This isn’t rocket science, kids. We want a better world. We want less stress, more happy.

• Pick a day this week.
• Commit yourself to five random acts of kindness.
• Report back here with the details.

That’s your homework.

These do not have to be grand ideas. You don’t have to cure cancer. But it would be nice. Here are some ideas to get you going.

• Pay for the person behind you at the coffee shop, movie theater, or grocery store.
• Buy a drink for a stranger at the bar without taking credit.
• Pay the toll for the car behind you.
• Donate clothes to a homeless shelter.
• Offer to babysit for some parents that need a night out.
• Send a thank you note to someone that matters to you.
• Give hugs. Like you mean it.
• Smile. It’s easy, free, and guaranteed to brighten someone’s day.
• Go through your text messages. Rekindle a conversation with someone in the oldest messages.
• Leave an inspiring card, message, or book behind on public transportation.
• Tip generously.

You will have multiple opportunities. Be creative.

Let me know what you come up with in the comments below!

Simon Says Be Awesome

Simon Sinek delivers a speech that could be called a gift to humanity in this video. You will hear from the author of Start With Why about the importance of helping others. You’ll learn where leaders fail, and how they can improve everyone around them with just one small attitude shift. This is a great way to spend 24 minutes. Please, enjoy!