• “The ideas that have lighted my way have been kindness, beauty and truth.” ~  Albert Einstein




• “Kindness is the oil that smoothen the friction of life.” ~Anonymous




• “From what we get, we can make a living; what we give, however, makes a life.” ~  Arthur Ashe




• “All you have shall some day be given; Therefore give now, that the season of giving may be yours and not your inheritors.” ~  Kahlil Gibran




• “No matter how little you have, you can always give some of it away.” ~ Catherine Marshall




• “Nothing that you have not given away will ever be really yours.” ~ C. S. Lewis

Did you know that being nice to others can actually be good for you?
My mother always chided me to be nice.  Sometimes it worked and sometimes it didn’t.  After all, we all get grumpy from time-to-time and take it out on those around us. We can see that being nice to others is good for them, but did you know it is in your best interest too?  Recognizing the personal benefits of being nice might motivate us to do it a little more often like when that person cuts us off in traffic.

What does it mean to be nice?
Niceness is rather vague.  What exactly does it mean to be nice?
Well, in my mind, it means being kind, generous, agreeable, pleasant, respectable, friendly, forgiving and tactful.  It means going out of your way to treat others in the way that you want to be treated.
The best portion of a good man’s life – his little, nameless, unremembered acts of kindness and love.  ~William Wordsworth

Being nice when you get cut off in traffic, means that instead of assuming the driver is an insane jerk and giving them the bird, you give them the benefit of the doubt.  Maybe they didn’t see you or maybe they were late for a very important meeting or maybe they just made a mistake.  Why not just smile and let it go?  It is good for you to be nice in these situations. Being nice also means doing kind acts.  It means volunteering, donating and pitching in to make your home, neighborhood and community a better place. It means offering yourself to a cause that you believe to be worthwhile.  This might be something big like saving the environment or little like helping your spouse carry in the groceries.

Nice is such a small word, but it has big implications.  It takes a little time and effort, but it is all so incredibly worth it. How being nice is good for you, let me count the ways First, let me say, that I don’t mean to turn being nice into something selfish.  We should certainly strive to be nice for altruistic reasons alone, but knowing the personal benefits might motivate us to be nice a little more often.  That’s my intention here.

Here are ten ways that being nice is good for you:

1. Being nice leads people to like you
It is much easier to like someone that is nice.  We all want friends that are kind, giving and considerate.  We want and need people in our lives that support us and that will be there for us when we need them.  The old saying, “Be a friend to have a friend” really holds true and research shows that those with a greater social network are often happier, healthier and more productive!

2.  Kindness promotes confidence and optimism
Doing kind acts and being nice builds one’s confidence and optimism.  It just makes us feel good about ourselves when we do things for others.  Giving of ourselves to others builds up our positive self-image.  It also gives us a sense of hope.  We feel more powerful and in control when we make a positive difference in the life of another.

3.  Niceness makes you feel good about yourself
Haven’t you heard that it is better to give than to receive?!?  In fact, studies have shown that the giver usually has a bigger boost in positive emotions than the receiver!  Being kind and nice really is good for you.  It gives you that warm, fuzzy feeling all over.  Of course, these positive feelings carry over into all areas of your life causing a general improvement in well-being.  This translates into feeling good about yourself.  What a bonus!

4. People will reciprocate in your time of need
From time-to-time, we all face challenges, disappointments and losses in our lives.  When you’ve been nice to others during their struggles, it is more likely they will return the favor during your time of need.  This is just human nature.  Most of us feel really motivated to help those that have helped us.  Stephen Covey described this as the emotional bank account.

5.  Doing good deeds adds meaning and significance to your life When you donate money to further a good cause or volunteer your time to help build a house for an underprivileged family or go visit a friend in the hospital, your life suddenly becomes much more meaningful and significant.  You are making this world a slightly better place with your acts of kindness.  This is valuable and it makes us feel important which is something we all want.

6.  Being a volunteer can help you discover hidden talents
Volunteering is a great way to be nice.  It can also help you to uncover talents you didn’t know you had.  They say that necessity is the mother of invention.  Well, when you put yourself in a position to see the needs of others, you might rise to the occasion and discover capabilities that you never knew you had.  This can be fun and exciting!

7.  Being a do-gooder relieves stress and guilt
Being nice and doing good deeds is a less stressful way to live.  It creates less conflict and avoids feelings of guilt over bad behavior.  In addition, the act of doing something nice for another generates those great feelings that seem to trump all that stress that we build up from daily living.

8.  Helping others will make you feel thankful and advantaged
When we engage in assisting others in their time of need, we often walk away feeling better about our situation.  We naturally compare our lives to those that we are helping.  This comparison can leave you feeling more grateful for the life you have.  You’ll be able to see just how advantaged you are!

9.  Being nice fosters a greater sense of family and community
Your niceness will lead you to meet all kinds of people and get involved in a plethora of worthwhile activities.  This builds a greater sense of togetherness.  Even within your own family unit, you can foster an increased sense of connectedness and fondness toward one another by being extra thoughtful.  Being nice has a powerful effect!

10.  Engaging in generous acts distracts you from your own troubles
Doing nice things for others can serve as a useful distraction from the the challenges you face.  If you are trying to quit a bad habit, then generously engage yourself in helping others to keep your mind off of smoking or eating or biting your nails.  This is an excellent strategy that profits you and others!

Go be nice and you’ll experience many positive benefits!
As you can see from the list above, being nice has many benefits.  Wouldn’t the world be such a better place if we were all just a little nicer today?  We would all feel so much better about one another and ourselves too!  I challenge you to increase your effort at being nice and see for yourself what it does for your attitude and happiness.

This article first appeared on the Blog My Supercharged Life
It has been re-printed in full.

Being kind is so easy and it requires so little effort. Challenge yourself and choose an idea from this list, and put it into action, you’ll be glad you did.

• Say “I love you” to the the people you love
• Hold the door open for the person behind you
• Let someone out in front of you in traffic
• Tip more than 15% especially when your server seems to be having a bad day
• Give something to the homeless (blankets, a jacket, a sandwich)
• Write a thank you note to one of your teachers past or present and let them know how grateful you are for them
• Call a friend you haven’t spoken to in a while
• Put some money in the parking meter for the next person
• Let the person who needs the closer parking spot have it
• Help the elderly and parents with small children
• Smile when you answer the phone
• Thank the men and women in uniform
• Share your umbrella with someone who doesn’t have one
• Smile and say hello to a complete stranger
• Pay someone’s toll
• Be kind to animals
• Pick up a check in a restaurant
• Volunteer in your community (hospital, soup kitchen, animal shelter)
• Practice gratitude everyday and simply be kind
• Pay the toll for the driver behind you.

• Take a minute to direct someone who is lost, even though you’re rushing.
• Write a letter to a child who could use some extra attention. Kids love getting mail.
• Offer to pick up groceries for an elderly neighbor, especially in extreme weather.
• Give a homeless person your doggie bag.
• Say “I love you” to someone you love.
• Put a coin in an expired meter.
• Help a mother carry her baby stroller up the subway stairs, or hold a door open for her.
• Each time you get a new item of clothing, give away something old.
• Take someone’s shift as the car-pool parent.
• Bring your assistant coffee.
• Out of the blue, send flowers to a friend.
• Say “please” and “thank you”—and really mean it.
• When you’re on a crowded train or bus, offer your seat to an elderly, disabled or pregnant person.
• Don’t interrupt when someone is explaining herself.
• Let a fellow driver merge into your lane.
• Offer to baby-sit for a single mom.
• Put your shopping cart back in its place.
• Call or write to a teacher who changed your life.
• Bring a box of doughnuts to share at the office.
• Forgive someone a debt–and never bring it up again.
• Listen with all your senses.
• Write a note to the boss of someone who helps you, and explain how great a job that person is doing.
• Simply say “I’m sorry” when you’re wrong.
• Throw away your trash—and someone else’s—after a movie, picnic or visit to a park.
• Encourage someone who seems despondent.
• Volunteer to take care of a friend’s dog while he is vacationing.
• Help a friend pack for a move.
• Ask someone “How are you really doing?”—and then really listen to her response.
• Offer change when the person in front of you at the register comes up short.
• Before a friend moves away, give her your favorite recipe or quote and a photo of the two of you together.
• Leave a generous tip for a pleasant waiter.
• At work, offer to transfer a caller who needs help from another department.
• Pass along a great book you’ve just finished reading.

If you have an idea you would like to share with us, please email them to us using the form below…

Thank you,
The One Kind Act Team

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It is naïve to think there is never a time when force will be required or when legitimate power has to exert itself. Parents do have to use their authority in order to civilize and nurture unruly adolescents. Bosses sometimes have to fire people who are working against the company’s policies and best interests.

Generally speaking, however, the power of human kindness is a superior form of power to brute force. An attempt to lead by persuasion should always go before the last-ditch requirement of confrontation and pulling rank.

Gail Halvorsen was taught these ideas about kindness, service to others, and the like back in Sunday School as a boy. Now a retired colonel of the U.S. Air Force, he never tires of telling about a situation where putting his convictions to work helped change the course of history. It helped turn an enemy into an ally.

Halvorsen was a pilot in Europe during and after World War II. In post-war Germany, he was on the ground in Berlin. Some of the many hungry children in the once-prosperous Germany that Adolf Hitler had reduced to penury flocked around him and his buddies to ask for food. They were hungry. They were begging for a scrap or bread or a handout from the soldiers’ rations.

Turn an enemy into a friend and heal an old wound!

Halvorsen didn’t have any food for the group of about 30 kids. He had two sticks of gum in his pocket. He handed them to a couple of the children — and had a bright idea. The next time he dropped food into the Soviet-blockaded area of Berlin, he dropped gum and candy out for the children as well. When word got back to his superiors of what he and now other pilots were doing, there was a chewing out for their “unauthorized activities.” But one general defended what the pilots were doing. He encouraged them to keep it up. And soon American candy companies were providing chocolate bars and chewing gum by the tons.

As Halvorsen puts it, “It wasn’t the chocolate. It was hope!” Little children and their beleaguered parents were encouraged to believe that things would someday be better for them. Historians of the period have credited the candy drops for helping change the attitudes of the German people toward their recent enemies in war. The same non-government program is also credited with altering American attitudes toward the German people.

Maybe there are children for you to help in your neighborhood, through your company’s involvement in the larger community, or in some ministry of your church. Maybe the people to think about aren’t even children. Maybe there is just someone who needs an act of positive kindness that you can provide. There are certainly no guaranteed outcomes, but it probably won’t do harm to be gracious.

It could even turn an enemy into a friend or heal an old wound. Sweet!

I myself have gained much joy and comfort from your love, my brother, because your kindness has so often refreshed the hearts of God’s people (Philemon 1:7 NLT).

This article has been re-printed with permission. It first appeared at www.heartlight.org. Heartlight exists to provide resources for positive Christian living in today’s world.

35 Little Acts of Kindness

~ Lee Buscaglia

A simple play on words, a negative turned positive and a movement is sparked. “Today I will commit one random act of senseless kindness.” This simple phrase has launched an international movement inspiring people to practice kindness and to “pass it on” to others. It spawned bumper stickers, T-shirts, books, a foundation. There are now even designated Random Acts of Kindness Weeks and World Kindness Days.

While pondering an assignment for his human relations class at Bakersfield College, Chuck Wall overheard the radio news, “We have another random act of senseless violence to report.” He took out the “violence” and stuck in “kindness” and gave his class their assignment. Revolutions come from just such flashes of inspiration and Wall’s students became kindness revolutionaries.

Kindness is contagious. A smile begets a smile, simple courtesies encourage politeness, and a thoughtful gesture lingers in the heart. It feels good to do good and doing good deeds make others feel good. And so it goes, one good turn deserves another, and kindness becomes a way of life. Kindness is fundamental to life and it is essential in creating healthy, happy human relationships. We all need to be shown kindness and we all need to express it. Acts of kindness connect us to one another. It gives us hope in humanity.

Whether random or well planned out and articulated, acts of kindness have a domino affect in creating a better world. Generosity of spirit is just as important as monetary contributions. Sincere acts of kindness are almost always appreciated, even if there is no acknowledgment. For true kindness is unconditional with no thought of reciprocation.

Kindness lingers. We may forget the words, or even the person, but we seldom forget the act, a door held open, a cookie from a neighbor, a word of encouragement when we are feeling blue. Try it today. Commit one random act of senseless kindness. Mow a neighbor’s lawn, let someone cut in line in front of you, hand out balloons for no reason, say something nice to everyone you meet. Chances are those that you touch today will “pass it on” to others. We can change the world, one smile at a time.

For more information visit Actsofkindness.org

Reprinted with permission from DailyOM.com – Inspirational thoughts for a happy, healthy and fulfilling day. Register for free at www.dailyom.com © 2004-2010 DailyOM -All Rights Reserved.

Kindness is an ideal that is easily accessible to all of us. We all know that a small kindness can make our journeys lighter and more enjoyable. Even bringing an instance of kindness to mind can put a smile on your face days or weeks later or perhaps even inspire you to share kindness with another. Though it may seem simple to the point of insignificance, many cultures throughout the world and history have recognized kindness as a powerful virtue. It may be the simplest way to experience and share all the grandest ideals of humanity. We can make the choice to act from the best place within ourselves at any time, while simultaneously recognizing the highest potential in another with the smallest of acts, nourishing the seed of hope in each soul we encounter.

In a way, kindness acts as the oil that makes the engine of our world move more smoothly and with less friction. We can still get where we are going but the ride is more pleasant, and those around us can share in the ideal world that we help to create. We are all fortunate that kindness is limitless in its supply and available to everyone. When we act in ways that confirm our ideals, we make the ideal our reality. Then, instead of affirming the experience of struggle and competition, we can shift our experience to the reality of ease and pleasurable camaraderie with the fellow citizens of the world.

Whether giving way to someone in traffic or letting someone go ahead of us in line, donating money or sharing our homes in a crisis, we actively create a universe of kindness and giving with every choice we make. The smallest gesture can bring a smile to light the shadow of an unpleasant situation or remove tension from a difficult task, but it’s effects can echo and extend far beyond the moment. We can be sure that we will receive a kindness in return, but giving is its own reward. Kindness expands the light within us and reaches out to touch the light in others as well, giving us all a glimpse of the glow that has the power to enlighten our world.

About this Article
Reprinted with permission from DailyOM.com – Inspirational thoughts for a happy, healthy and fulfilling day. Register for free at www.dailyom.com © 2004-2010 DailyOM – All Rights Reserved.