A-Z Challenge: K is for Kindness

Today is the eleventh day of the A-Z Blogging Challenge. As you probably know by now, I'm doing an A-Z of human emotions, feelings and mental states.Today is the letter K and I must admitt that I struggled with this one. I don't think there is a genuine emotion tht begins with K as such, unless you count 'keenness' but what on earth do you write about that? So I'm writing about kindness, which I take to be not just a personality trait but a mental state in which you are feeling kind.




Kindness is the quality of being warmhearted, considerate, humane and sympathetic. We all appreciate people who are kind to us-simple acts of kindness can leave us with a lasting impression of fondness. But cultivating kindness towards others not only makes them feel special and makes us seem like nice people who are worthy of kind treatment ourselves- it also makes us feel really good inside. Here are some ideas for ways that you can show kindness to others:

• When someone is feeling unwell or down in the dumps, go round to see them and take a treat they love to cheer them up.
• Bake some cupcakes and give one to everyone that you are grateful for in your life with a little note saying 'thank you for...'.
• Next time you walk past a homeless person in the street, buy something from a cafe like a sandwhich, cake or cup of coffee and give it to them. Watch their face light up.
• When your friend is rushed off their feet and feeling stressed, offer to come round and help with their chores or homework. Many hands make light work after all!
• If you have some free time and want to learn some new skills, consider volunteering for a charity or doing some fundraising like a sponsored walk.
• Don't just walk by if someone drops something or falls over in the street- stop and help them. Wouldn't you want them to do the same for you?
• Give up your seat for someone else on the bus.
• Offer to do your friend a favour like walking the dog, babysitting their kids or helping out in the garden.
• Be there for people when they need to talk. Listen and offer your advice.
• Burn someone a CD of their favourite songs.
• Make someone a greetings card- not for a special occasion- just to randomly say how special they are.
• Overlook people's faults and concentrate on the good things that you can compliment them on.
• Cook you partner dinner before they get home from work to suprise them, and then run them a nice hot bath.
• If you don't see some of your friends or distant fmily very often, write to them regularly and they will appreciate it.
• Donate some of your old clothes and books to charity or hold a swapping party with your mates.
• Write a poem  or nice message and hide it in a library book for a stranger to find.

Do you have any other ideas for acts of random kindness?