Doing a kindness for someone releases Oxytocin. It helps us connect with them. The person doing the act of kindness, the recipient and any observers all get a hit of Oxytocin. it helps us all to be more connected and thus more resilient.
Please help us take this list to 1001 ideas.
Here are 101 ideas to start you off.
Criteria: a non-reciprocal act of kindness. This means that it will be weird if someone immediately did it back for you. so it should not be possible to make it transactional. ( ie tit for tat)
1. Leave money on a vending machine for someone
2. Bake cookies for the elderly
3. Serve at a homeless shelter
4. Do a 5k for a good cause
5. Help at a veterinarian office
6. Pick up litter on the beach
7. Let someone go in front of you inline
8. Give a stranger a compliment
9. Make dinner for a family in need
10. Insert coins into someone’s parking meter
11. Buy flowers to hand out on the street
12. Leave letters of encouragement on people’s cars
13. Buy a movie ticket for the person behind you
14. Pay for someone’s meal at a restaurant
15. Write letters to soldiers
16. Donate Christmas gifts to an orphanage
17. Participate in a fundraiser
18. Use your allowance to donate to a charity
19. Hold open the doors for people
20. Thank a teacher with a gift
21. Donate your old clothes to the Salvation Army
22. Help a senior with their groceries
23. Shovel a neighbour’s driveway when it snows
24. Walk a neighbour’s dog
25. Babysit for free
26. Plant a tree
27. Do a favour without asking for anything in return
28. Take someone new in your neighbourhood on a tour of the city
29. Show the new kids around your school
30. Buy an ice cream cone for a child
31. Learn to say hello in a different language to different people
32. Prepare a meal for your family
33. Pay for a stranger’s library fees
34. Send Valentine’s Day cards to everyone in your class
35. Spend a day at a homeless shelter
36. Give drinks out to people on a hot day
37. Send a letter to a good friend instead of a text
38. Bring in doughnuts for your co-workers
39. Help a child or older person cross the street
40. Water a neighbour’s lawn/flowers
41. Snap a photo of a couple
42. Give someone a gift card that you don’t intend to use
43. Wash someone’s car
44. Read to kids at the library for storytime
45. Plan a surprise birthday party for someone
46. Perform a concert at a retirement home
47. Help do chores at a farm/harvest ranch
48. Save your pop tabs for a children’s hospital
49. Leave your waiter a generous tip
50. Start mentoring a younger child
51. Spend time with your grandparents
52. Make a family member breakfast in bed
53. Hold the elevator for someone
54. Pay for someone’s dry cleaning
55. Pack someone a lunch for the day
56. Write a kind or encouraging message on a napkin
57. Do a sibling’s chores without them asking
58. Offer to take a shopper’s cart to the line outside
59. Help someone who has a flat tire
60. Let someone else pick what to watch on TV
61. Send care packages to soldiers overseas
62. Rake the leaves for your neighbours
63. Mow the lawn for your neighbours
64. Take the day not to complain
65. Write a list of things that you adore about a friend]
66. Pay for someone’s morning coffee
67. Participate in Pack-A-Backpack for a child
68. Instead of posting negativity online, spread some encouragement
69. Share your favourite Bible verses or quote and post them to the company billboard
70. Give up your seat on the bus to another person
71. Pay for someone’s bus/cab fare
72. Offer someone your pen
73. Lend a friend a favourite book/movie
74. Recommend someone your favourite book/movie
75. Take your younger siblings out to play in the rain
76. Make hot chocolate for your family on a cold day
77. Take the time to appreciate the sunrise and sunset
78. Write someone an encouraging poem
79. Send colouring books to sick kids in the hospital
80. Celebrate your own best friend appreciation day
81. Help tutor a struggling student
82. Pay for another student’s lunch
83. Offer to give a friend a ride home
84. Take the time to listen to someone
85. Recycle things that you see on the road
86. Help sick animals find homes
87. Make someone a homemade blanket or scarf
88. Feed the birds in the park
89. Leave some change on a wishing fountain
90. Help out the janitors at school
91. Donate your hair after a haircut
92. Give your umbrella to a stranger
93. Volunteer to work some overtime at your job
94. Ride your bike or walk to work
95. Offer compliments to strangers and friends and family
96. Buy your waiter/waitress dessert
97. Wash a neighbour’s dog for free
98. Buy groceries for the person behind you
99. Reconnect with old friends
100.Hide money in random places for strangers to find
101.Be kind to yourself!
