“Practice random kindness and senseless acts of beauty”, a play on the adage “random acts of violence and senseless acts of cruelty”, was coined by American writer and editor Anne Herbert in 1982. Over the past 30+ years, the concept of spreading kindness by performing random and thoughtful gestures has drastically evolved. A quick look at Twitter alone affirms the popularity of #RandomActsOfKindnessDay as it dominates as the top trending topic with more than 18.6K tweets. Celebrated February 14th-20th, it’s not too late to join in! While the possibilities are endless, here are some ways to spread kindness through random acts: smile, hold the door open for someone, give someone a compliment, let someone know that you appreciate them, or just say hello. These simple gestures of kindness are meaningful and produce a ripple effect! According to a study done by Standford University, when an individual is the receipient of kind words or gestures they are more likely to reciprocate that kindness to others. Join SMHA in spreading kindness not only today, or this week, but everyday of the year.
For more on Random Act of Kindness Week check out these sites:
https://www.randomactsofkindness.org/
http://www.nationaldaycalendar.com/national-random-acts-of-kindness-day-february-17/
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/news/random-acts-of-kindness-week/