To Gratitude or not to gratitude... Is that really the question?
Every year as soon as November 1 hits I see the gratitude challenge on Facebook. It’s such an exciting time to see what people are thankful for but as Shawn Achor states in his Ted Talk (you can watch it, I’ll wait), it’s just a piece of overall happiness.
So this November I am doing a couple things.
The first is I have started the Happiness Project in one of my classes. Each day the students are writing:
Three things they are grateful for
Three positive sentences about themselves
They are journaling about a moment that made them happy in the last 24 hours.
I’m starting here with them and I will be throwing in random acts of kindness… we have to start slow to go fast.
As Shawn states (and I’m paraphrasing) it’s not just what you have but what you give. I am doing rather well on my gratitude and I remember to be thankful every day, even for the smallest of things but my random acts of kindness could use some help.
Therefore, secondly, I am committing to doing at least one random act of kindness every day. I won’t be boasting about these on FB or blaring them to the world through my extremely popular periscope and twitter accounts but if something extremely significant happens, I may blog about it but it probably won’t even come to that because random acts of kindness are for your soul, not for everyone else to think you are awesome.
Random acts of kindness are a bit like Santa Clause… You don’t know where it came from, not even how or who to thank, you just know someone cared enough to give.
Now don’t go getting all defensive about my Santa reference, I know everyone has their thoughts about Santa and what he represents or the lack thereof, to me he is the spirit of giving… He is the movement that shouldn’t just hit at Christmas but should be carried forth year round.
It’s my blog therefore it’s my opinion and that’s it. It’s not a debate people (I know everyone is extremely salty since the election is coming up)... Anyway, Santa isn’t what this blog is about, what I am trying to say is I am challenging myself to do a random act of kindness every single day starting November 1. I am not creating an end date because should it really end?
I need a new habit and this is an inexpensive easy one that lifts my spirits. Random acts of kindness don’t have to be huge or expensive… They can simply be sending a random email to thank a colleague or let a friend know you are thinking of them. Writing a letter or sending a text to someone who may or may not need it.
Random acts of kindness are just that, random and kind. I hope this helps me to forget about my trivial issues and to really see the good in everyone around me.
If you are on the receiving end of one of these random acts, please don’t take it personally, it’s not because of the challenge, it’s because I really care.
Peace and love!
~Jes
