Hello, March! I am super excited to welcome you back for another year.
Same as last year, I will be practicing a Mindful March as part of the Action for Happiness movement. The kids and I had lots of fun last year following the Mindful March calendar, discussing each daily action and what we accomplished each day.
The first action of the month is:
‘Set an intention to live with awareness and kindness’.
In retrospection to the kindness actions from last year, and in order to improve, I want to revisit and to clarify – What is Kindness?
I did a quick Google search. The majority of responses showed that kindness is determined by someone’s qualities or actions that show generosity, helpfulness, caring for other people, being respectful, friendly, thoughtful and considerate of others.
According to Everyday Health, researchers define two types of kindness – one directed towards oneself and another directed to others. Specialists confirm that kindness is beneficial for both the receiver and the giver. It appears that acts of kindness can help to reduce stress, improve mental health, and could even increase longevity.
When last year I was reading Sonja Lyubomirsky’s book The How of Happiness, I discovered that it includes a Person-Activity Fit Diagnostic test based on 12 Happiness Activities. According to the test, practicing acts of kindness was naturally on top of my Happiness Activities list. Meaning – practicing acts of kindness makes me happy.
Today, I wanted to learn something new and reached out to Chat GPT for advice on some ideas on how to show acts of kindness (I am sharing the list of AI ideas below). I went through the list of these ideas and realised that I already – either do these often or have done many of these things over the years. I wanted to come up with some new and unique kindness ideas. I asked Chat GPT again but didn’t see anything that stood out for me as either new or unique – it seemed that even on the list of the ‘unique ideas’ many of the things I have had already done. Well – it doesn’t mean I should stop doing them. And, whilst I continue the old kindness actions, I am hopeful I will find new ideas as I progress further.
Let the Mindful March begin – with Kindness!
“In a world where you can be anything, be kind.” – Clare Pooley
AI Kindness Ideas
Source: Chat GPT, OpenAI, 2015–2025. ‘acts of kindness’ query. Accessed 1st March 2025.
Everyday Acts of Kindness
- Holding the door open for someone
- Giving a genuine compliment
- Letting someone go ahead in line
- Smiling at a stranger
- Saying “thank you” and “please”
Helping Others
- Checking in on a friend or family member
- Helping someone carry their groceries
- Donating clothes, food, or money to those in need
- Volunteering at a shelter or community center
Workplace or School Kindness
- Encouraging a coworker or classmate
- Writing a thank-you note to a teacher or mentor
- Helping a colleague with a project
- Bringing in treats to share
- Listening without interrupting
Kindness to Yourself
- Taking breaks and resting when needed
- Speaking kindly to yourself
- Setting boundaries to protect your energy
- Treating yourself to something nice
- Practicing gratitude
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