2000 Years of Kindness
"'Practice kindness all day to everybody and you will realize you're already in heaven now,' Jack Kerouac wrote in a beautiful 1957 letter to his first wife turned lifelong friend. 'Kindness, kindness, kindness,' Susan Sontag resolved in her diary on New Year's Day in 1972. Half a century later, the Dalai Lama placed a single exhortation at the center of his ethical and ecological philosophy: 'Be ... posted on Mar 18, 4339 reads

A Daily Dose of Kindness
He lost his wife, as a result of a terror attack at Sbarro restaurant in Jerusalem. His response? Kindness. In fact, he called his organization "Partners in Kindness". It's aim is to encourage people around the world to do an act of kindness each day. Their first project is called A Daily Dose of Kindness. Each day people report acts of kindness and it's shared anonymously with others.... posted on Oct 23, 1494 reads

Three Ways To Bring More Kindness To Your Life
"One of the best ways to increase our own happiness is to do things that make other people happy. In countless studies, kindness and generosity have been linked to greater life satisfaction, stronger relationships, and better mental and physical health-- generous people even live longer." Researchers have argued that kindness is like a muscle that needs to be strengthened through repeated use. H... posted on Dec 12, 20982 reads

Before You Know Kindness: A Poem by Naomi Shihab Nye
"Before you know what kindness really is you must lose things, feel the future dissolve in a moment like salt in a weakened broth." Thus begins Naomi Shihab Nye's poem Kindness, animated poignantly by Ana Perez Lopez for the On Being Project. The poem, first published in 1980 and read softly here by the poet, contrasts strikingly with the typographical approach to the animation done during the pan... posted on Apr 9, 3314 reads

Interior Designing for Kindness!
When Christina Van Blake lost her job in February 2009, she fought off depression by offering to design a room in exchange for her client initiating three acts of kindness, asking only that her client pay it forward. Since then, Van Blake has documented 80 clients and 240 acts of kindness in six months! She and fellow designer Joyce Heathcote now run "Design it Forward," a pay-it-forward interior... posted on May 1, 3923 reads

The Ripple Effect of Kindness
"Over the last few years, I've become a big proponent of Smile Cards. The premise behind these small cards is simple: do an anonymous act of kindness and leave a card behind, inviting the recipient to pay-it-forward. If he/she does, the chain keeps going, resulting in "ripples" of kindness radiating out. Smile Cards are wonderful in ways I cannot count. Small, simple, humble -- yet powerful, becau... posted on Sep 11, 22777 reads

177 Messages of Kindness
"Out of all the afterschool programs offered in their school, three energetic 11-13 year old girls chose to join this one. The 'Random Acts of Kindness Class,' the first of its kind, was an innovative experiment, offering children the opportunity to use their creativity and artwork to inspire their school and community by doing random acts of kindness. A few weeks ago, I spent an unforgettable aft... posted on May 3, 5435 reads

Top 10 Kindness Stories of 2018
Kindness begets kindness. This simple saying points to a profound truth. What we put out into the world, often comes back to us in one form or another. Not only does kindness have this wonderful boomerang effect, it's also delightfully contagious. Being at the receiving end of an act of kindness or witnessing a thoughtful gesture for another person can inspire a chain reaction. This just might be ... posted on Jan 23, 22037 reads

Leading With Kindness
A new way of managing is emerging. Some of the world's most successful companies are realizing that the better they treat their employees, the more productive they get. College opportunities, flexible schedules, advanced health care plans or transparency between ranks are only a few examples of a new phenomenon known as leading with kindness. Businessmen and professors William F. Baker and Michael... posted on Oct 27, 5975 reads

5 Ways to Start a Kindness Revolution at Work
We spend around 2,000 hours a year with our coworkers. Given how much time we spend with them, a little bit of kindness can really go a long way. It doesn't require any money or training, and you can start right away either individually or as a team. That's the beauty of it! Leading by example, putting an end to petty criticism, welcoming new employees with open arms and recognizing the strengt... posted on Feb 19, 8786 reads

Secret Agent of Kindness
For the past year, Laura Miller has been living a double life of sorts: administrative assistant by day, secret agent of kindness by night. The 32-year-old only recently revealed herself as the woman behind "Secret Agent L," a giver of random acts of kindness that has been brightening the days of unsuspecting Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania residents since July 2009. What started with a friend's request ... posted on Aug 10, 5705 reads

10 Amazing Stories for World Kindness Day
November 13th is World Kindness Day! In honor of this, we've compiled 10 diverse and heart-warming pieces honoring extraordinary acts of kindness, love and compassion by ordinary people. These stories include bus-drivers, bakers, basketball players, canine heroes and much more...reminding us of just how universal and essential the spirit of kindness is in our world.... posted on Nov 13, 226965 reads

24 Acts of Kindness To Restore Faith In Humanity
Remember the time when someone let you cut in line at the grocery store because you only had one item to pay for? How about that day on the subway when you witnessed a seemingly self-absorbed teenager, glued to his iPod, giving up his seat for an elderly lady with a cane? These stories stay with us because they are reminders that, even in the face of adversity and darkness we have a shining capa... posted on Jun 8, 45930 reads

Kindness: The First Gift
"Kindness has gracious eyes; it is not small-minded or competitive; it wants nothing back for itself... Kindness casts a different light, an evening light that has the depth of color and patience to illuminate what is complex and rich in difference." John O'Donohue takes us on an eloquent exploration of kindness and its role in the unfolding universe.... posted on Nov 28, 47112 reads

The Kindness Bus
Bob Votruba lives in converted bus, a response to a mass shooting at Virginia Tech in 2007. Instead of falling into fear and hate, Bob decided to fight hate with kindness. He bought an old school bus, sold everything, and hit the road. His goal? To commit one million acts of kindness in his lifetime. Bob's particular focus is on ending bullying and associated adolescent suicides, but he encourages... posted on Sep 29, 13716 reads

Random Acts of Kindness Education Workshops
We often think of kindness as something a person has, or doesn't. But kindness, like all actions and skills, can be taught and has to be practiced. The Random acts of Kindness Foundation has a workshop for doing just that!... posted on Jul 24, 2844 reads

Blind Act of Kindness
Hearing a radio announcer report, "Today, we have another random act of senseless violence to report," gave Chuck Wall the idea to change the well-known negative word, "violence," to the positive word, "kindness." Reportedly, he initiated the "Random Acts of Kindness" movement. Chuck Wall is blind.... posted on Jan 27, 833 reads

Kindness In Full Bloom
"Everyone says the flowers smell good but I don't smell anything. Nothing. Do you smell them?" she asks, in her heavily accented voice. After walking around a busy street looking to do a random act of kindness, I had stumbled into this flower shop. Even though my mind was busy devising possible scenarios, I had a gut feeling that something was going to present itself." So begins this real-life sto... posted on Jan 16, 3544 reads

Journey of a Kindness Checkbook
How would you use $20 to bring more kindness in your community? A Bank employee, with a generous heart and an adventurous spirit, created a checkbook cover containing $20 and the following note: "Congratulations! You are currently the bearer of the Smile Transaction Register. This kindness checkbook began its journey with $20. Your only job is to keep it going."... posted on Mar 19, 8997 reads

Kindness Remembered 41 Years Later
Sometimes acts of kindness seem to conspire at times when they are most needed. Here's one such story of a kindness received 41 years ago, when ... "I was twenty-four years old and three months pregnant when my husband died. I was a widow and an expectant mother in the same day. We had bought a new home and I had filled our two bedroom apartment with nursery items in anticipation of moving in. ... posted on Nov 23, 5304 reads

Top 10 Kindness Stories of 2011
What we appreciate, appreciates. That's the way activist Lynne Twist explains a universal phenomenon: that the more we concentrate on something, the more we understand and learn, the more it expands our own boundaries. It also applies to the stories we surround ourselves with. In theory, stories of kindness are happening all the time, but the more we orient ourselves to them, the more we find all ... posted on Jan 1, 7059 reads

Three Lessons from a Kindness Challenge
In this first person account, author Thao Phi reflects on some of the unique and important things she discovered after partaking in a 30-day kindness challenge. For one, she learned that people must be courageous in their acts of kindness to strangers, and secondly, to never overlook doing good deeds to those that are closest to you. And last, but certainly not least, make sure you are kind to the... posted on Feb 7, 42314 reads

Kindness In An Age of Connected Disconnection
Years ago, we didn't have to try so hard to stay connected. People lived in neighborhoods, and there weren't many strangers that didn't ultimately become friends. We watched over one another with relationships built upon a foundation of shared interdependence, ensuring plenty of kindness to go around. Sadly though, through our own scientific progress, we now live in an age of 'connected disconnect... posted on Aug 27, 29714 reads

Radical Kindness: The Banker Who Gave It All Away
On the surface, Philip Wollen does not look like the radical type. Named as one of the top-wanted executives in Australia, he was a vice-president of Citibank when he was 34 and a general manager at Citicorp. Around 1990, however, Philip decided to give away 90% of his capital. His aim, he says, is to die broke; to give away all he owns with "warm hands." Now, his Winsome Constance Kindness Trust ... posted on Aug 30, 9381 reads

5 Ways Science Says Kindness Will Change Your Life
Is kindness just an old-fashioned value celebrated in kindergarten and then soon forgotten as one grows older and more ambitious --- or is there more to it? As increasing numbers of people look to live a purpose-driven life, research is beginning to reveal the tremendous rewards that come with living kindly. What follows are some of the most compelling recent studies on the topic of kindness, and ... posted on Sep 23, 142454 reads

Vancouver's Pop-Up Shelters
A Vancouver-based advertising company teamed up with a grassroots advocacy group to extend kindness to the city's homeless population in a beautifully creative way. "During the day, the [bus] benches serve as seating for those waiting for the bus to arrive. At night, the front lifts up and out to create an overhang." Acts of kindness like these stand out against the backdrop of many cities making ... posted on Nov 22, 22127 reads

60 Kind Acts For My 60th Birthday
There is little in this world that provides a greater sense of inner peace than taking the time to do something kind for others. And, we shouldn't have to wait for "World Kindness Day" to take advantage of this. Rather, kindness can be something which is gently infused into each day. Read one woman's heart-opening experience as she challenged herself to a 60-day kindness challenge in celebration o... posted on Feb 13, 35847 reads

Kindness Includes Everything
"What I regret most in my life are failures of kindness. Those moments when another human being was there, in front of me, suffering, and I responded ... sensibly. Reservedly. Mildly. Or, to look at it from the other end of the telescope: Who, in your life, do you remember most fondly, with the most undeniable feelings of warmth? Those who were kindest to you, I bet. Its a little facile, maybe, a... posted on Nov 13, 5220 reads

The Top 10 Kindness Stories of 2015
What if we invited people from different parts of the world, to sit around a fireplace and share stories of their experiences with kindness? A kind act that they may have done, received, or been a witness to. That is what the online KindSpring.org community looks like. It's hard to select a few stories from thousands that were shared. Some are small acts that make someone's day, while others are l... posted on Jan 5, 35481 reads

Top 10 Kindness Stories of 2016
Every year KindSpring shares a selection of the most powerful stories they've received over the last twelve months. In the spirit of anonymity these real-life stories are often posted by people who choose to use a "kindness alias". Some of the stories are about children and teenagers who have stumbled on creative ways to flex their kindness muscles, others are about adults of different ages, natio... posted on Jan 4, 19263 reads

Experiments in Kindness
Audrey Lin is a volunteer extraordinaire with ServiceSpace. With a degree in Peace and Conflict Studies, Lin has volunteered at the Gandhi Ashram in Ahmedabad, India; at Karma Kitchen in Berkeley, California;and has served as an educator on both the east and west coasts of the United States. While not everyone has the ability to travel abroad to volunteer, Lin's life and perspectives remind us tha... posted on Aug 15, 2692 reads

David Fryburg: Inspiring Kindness Through Images
We live in a world where news stories are riddled with negativity; wars, crashes, political and social strife fill our living rooms and enter our most personal of space, our homes. What are the implications on our neurological and physical health? And what are the effects when this is turned around and people are exposed to positive news, see acts of kindness and learn of human goodness? This wa... posted on Feb 27, 14606 reads

What I Regret Most Are Failures of Kindness
For many people, the things we regret in life might be the big ones: either moral failings, career opportunities missed on the way to success, or all those things that fall into the category of "adventures we should have taken." For American writer George Saunders, his list of regrets is quite simple: failures of kindness. What grabs at his heart the most is missing those seemingly insignificant c... posted on Jul 28, 0 reads

A Three Year Road Trip Documenting Kindness
Do you see the world as a place of hope and optimism? Understandably, many people don't as the barrage of bad news hits the news feed every day. Mary Latham is not one of those people though. Instead of withdrawing from the world after the loss of her mother, in 2016 she began a journey to find and create kindness as she traveled across the US. Over the past years, she says she's found nothing but... posted on Sep 7, 2730 reads

How Oral Surgery Taught Me a Lesson in Wholeness
Andy Smallman created an "Anonymous Kindness" class some years back, suggesting each participant offer an anonymous kindness act toward someone each week. Recently he met with an anonymous act of kindness toward him: an organ donor's bone to fill a hole in his mouth after oral surgery. Whose bone was it? he asked himself, and came up with a new answer "ours."... posted on Nov 3, 4767 reads

KindSpring: Top 10 Stories of 2020
"Every year KindSpring shares the top 10 most inspiring kindness stories it's featured over the year. These stories range from chance encounters of anonymous acts of kindness to deliberate, thoughtful ways that everyday people choose to make the world a better place for those around them. In an unprecedented year, when uncertainty and confusion covered a vast majority of the news headlines, we als... posted on Jan 2, 12533 reads

Musicians on Kindness
What if kindness was a form of music, with its own rhythm, its own flow, its own song?" This engaging video points out the give and take of the whole human experience through highlighting music, with its reciprocal energy which inspires both the musicians and their audiences. The featured street musicians reflect on the power of music to make kindness contagious.... posted on Jan 15, 2717 reads

What I Regret Most Are Failures of Kindness
For many people, the things we regret in life might be the big ones: either moral failings, career opportunities missed on the way to success, or all those things that fall into the category of "adventures we should have taken." For American writer George Saunders, his list of regrets is quite simple: failures of kindness. What grabs at his heart the most is missing those seemingly insignificant c... posted on Feb 11, 49431 reads

Untitled
Is it OK to declaw cats? Can fish feel pain? What’s wrong with wool? Meet the "Dear Abby" of animal-kindness questions, PETA’s “kindness consultant,” Carla Bennett.... posted on Jun 21, 1159 reads

Karma Army
Karma Army. That's what he called his accidental group. After posting an ad in the paper to "join me", Danny Wallace had 4000 passport photos of possible members but no purpose. Then his mission hit him -- acts of kindness. Every member has to sign The Good Fridays Agreement where you agree to carry out a random act of kindness for a complete stranger, each and every Friday!... posted on Mar 18, 2761 reads

An Act of Kindness in 1988
Mary Menth Andersen had just married Norwegian Dag Andersen. She was looking forward to starting a new life with him. But first she had to get all of her belongings across to Norway. The date was November 2nd, 1988. At the airport she got the message that would crush her bubbling feeling of happiness: "You'll have to pay a 103 dollar surcharge if you want to bring both those suitcases to Norway, t... posted on Oct 16, 10247 reads

Anonymous Kindness Catches On!
Before Bob Haslam had a chance to thank her, she was gone. In the drive-up lane at a Starbucks in Lynnwood, Haslam reached out for his usual nonfat raspberry latte with two Splendas stirred in, but the barista wouldn't take his money. "She leaned way out and said, 'You're not going to believe this, but the lady ahead of you paid for your latte. She said she wanted to make your day.'" Events like... posted on Jul 20, 2096 reads

Restaurant Ripples: Kindness in Action
A real-life story of an anonymous act of kindness starts simply: "So there we are sitting in our little booth, finishing up a, tasty meal. It dawns on us, it’s time. Who will it be? Who will it be? Hmmm…. them! Who? Them, the couple behind me over my left shoulder. All right, lets do it! Our waiter comes over and asks: Would you like to take the rest with you? 'Yes, we would. Could we have our... posted on Dec 5, 5080 reads

A Turtle Who Taught Kindness
"Enlightenment and epiphanies can show up in some pretty strange ways. The Buddha found it under a Boddhi tree, Nelson Mandela in prison and Ram Dass through psychedelics. Little did I know, mine would arrive in the form of a hard-shelled reptile simply trying to cross the road -- a turtle. But this wasn’t just any turtle, this was the world’s most optimistic one. He was tenaciously determine... posted on Jun 2, 4218 reads

Acts of Random Kindness
"I was in this cafe the other week," says Cameron Stewart, "and I was buying an ice-cream. So I gave the guy at the desk a fiver and said, the next person who orders an ice cream, tell them it is on the house. Tell them it's free, and this will pay for it." Cameron Stewart is an 18-year-old from Holywood, near Belfast, and this sort of thing is exactly his forte. He is the proprietor of Ark cloth... posted on Mar 29, 4580 reads

Kind Acts on Sticky Notes
When she read aloud the small story about a garbage collector's kindness, Katherine Cornthwaite's Grade 10 class went silent."It was an 'Aha!' moment. Everyone's attention was on the story," says Cornthwaite, an English and family studies teacher at Clarke High School, near Newcastle. "I had tried all these different things but they wouldn't settle down," she recounts. "I thought, 'Fine! I'll read... posted on Jul 19, 4797 reads

Walking the Path of Kindness
"The great nineteenth-century Jewish mystic Levi Yitzchok, the Rabbi of Berditchev, was known throughout Europe as the Master of the 'Good Eye'. It was said that he could see nothing of people's sins, only their virtues." So begins an in-depth excerpt from "The Compassionate Life: Walking the Path of Kindness," by Mark Barasch. In his inquiry into the workings of the 'Good Eye', Barasch finds guid... posted on Jul 29, 3750 reads

Survival of the Kindest
He may well be the psychotherapist with the simplest recipe: kindness. According to Piero Ferrucci, freedom starts with being kind. To others. And yourself. This Ode article shares a thought-provoking glimpse of Ferrucci's thinking on kindness and its relationship to forgiveness.... posted on Sep 2, 8090 reads

A 1000 Mile Walk Relying On Kindness
His name is Garth Poorman, and he's a man on a mission. Poorman, who left his home in Hebron in upstate New York on August 29, is walking all the way to New Orleans. Along the way, he is looking for a few kind and generous hearts. "I wanted to see if I could walk half-way across America, depending solely on the kindness of friends and strangers to share dinner with me and host me in their homes fo... posted on Jan 19, 3425 reads

Science Says: Kindness is Contagious!
In findings sure to gladden the heart of anyone who's ever wondered whether tiny acts of kindness have larger consequences, researchers have shown that generosity is contagious. Goodness spurs goodness, they found: A single act can influence dozens more. In a game where selfishness made more sense than cooperation, acts of giving were "tripled over the course of the experiment by other subjects w... posted on Mar 12, 4096 reads