Did you know that November 13th is World Kindness Day? It was introduced in 1998 by the World Kindness Movement and observed internationally. It is a day dedicated to highlighting good deeds in the community and recognizing that values such as kindness and acceptance are essential.
Fostering a sense of community and making mindful connections is one of the core values which govern our centres; because of this, a day celebrating compassion and caring is one we fully embrace. While it is our daily practice to encourage kindness, we’ve rounded up some fun and easy ideas to help commemorate this day:
- Ask the simple question, “what does kindness mean to you?”
- Acknowledge community helpers, those incredible people who help to make communities great with a thank you note
- Create a bag of necessities (a blessings bag) and deliver it to someone in need
- Create a charity allowance whereby a portion of the allowance given to children is specifically set aside to donate to a special cause
- Craft and hand out homemade kindness cards to show kindness to others
- Start a kindness jar that is filled with a stone or bean etc., each time someone in the family performs a random act of kindness
- Read books about kindness (one of our favourites is “Have you Filled a Bucket Today?” by Carol McCloud)
- Pick up litter, spend a few minutes cleaning up your neighborhood.
- Stop and simply tell someone how awesome they are or give them a compliment
Small gestures like these can have a huge impact. Just imagine what the world would be like if each person did one kind thing for someone else.
On November 13th celebrate World Kindness day by making a difference and continue the celebration in the days that follow.