#ygkChallenge: Spread Kindness
Welcome to Kingstonist’s weekly challenge, dare, resolution or whatever you prefer to call it. Each week we establish a new and ambitious community goal, encouraging our readers, followers, friends and families to step out of their comfort zones and do something great, and hopefully a little out of the ordinary. Consider this your official and personal invitation to join us in completing a small but meaningful achievement. By taking part in this community-wide initiative, we hope to make Kingston a slightly better place to live, work and play. And of course, we also hope that you will feel proud of your contribution and achievement.
This week’s challenge encourages you to:
Be Kind. Did you know that November 13th is World Kindness Day? Me neither. World Kindness Day evolved from a series of conferences held in Japan in the mid-nineties by a group known as the World Kindness Movement. These conferences brought together groups interested in promoting more kindness around the world and culminated in the “Declaration of Kindness” on November 13, 1997. This day falls right after the ever popular Chicken Soup for the Soul Day and Operating Room Nurse Day. In fact, if you look it up, you’ll find that just about everyday has been declared a special day of some sort – and in some cases celebrates two or even three ideas (Are you ready for Clean Your Refrigerator Day, Button Day and Have a Party with your Bear Day? They’re coming up soon!) So, yes, sometimes these days can get a bit silly but, back to the topic at hand. A little kindness can go a long way, whatever the motivation behind it. This week (and especially today!) we challenge you to show kindness to the people around you. Gestures like holding a door, buying someone’s coffee to just sharing a smile can really brighten a mood and that joy will most definitely get passed on to someone else.
Sign up and commit to completing this week’s challenge by commenting below with an “I’m in“, “challenge accepted“, “en garde” or something along those lines. Further, help us spread the word via Twitter and Facebook by using the hashtag: #ygkchallenge. As you work towards completing this week’s task, please feel free to lend others a helping hand by providing tips on how you achieved success.
Photo credit to Amanda Westmont.