Today is World Kindness Day. As it is celebrated, it allows people around the globe to connect heart to heart. There are times when people feel disconnected from each other and themselves. I am convinced that it is at the core of war. It is at the center of dis-ease, both mental and physical. Generosity of spirit is free as the wind. It costs nothing to smile at another human, to offer a word of praise, a shoulder to lean on, a heart to heart hug or time to listen.

The Random Acts of Kindness Foundation created this annual event and according to their website:

It was “established in 1995, the Random Acts of Kindness Foundation (RAK) is an internationally recognized nonprofit headquartered in Denver, CO, dedicated to inspiring people to practice kindness and pass it on to others. RAK provides free online resources to encourage acts of kindness across the globe, specifically in school communities.”

When children are taught kindness, bullying behaviors

dissipate.  They learn by example. As someone who has the ability to influence a child, whether or not you are in a parenting role, imagine the impact on the next generations.

What  are ways that you can plant seeds of kindness and watch them blossom?

Call a friend you haven’t spoken to in a while.

Open a door and allow someone else to walk through.

Let someone go in front of you in a check out line.

Pay for someone’s coffee or meal anonymously.

Leave a care package on someone’s doorstep.

Visit someone in a nursing home.

Buy flowers and hand them out one by one.

Read to a child.

Volunteer.

When you go grocery shopping, pick up a few extra items for someone else.

If someone has died, take a meal to the family.

Choose to become a RAKtavist. I did.