*February 17 only, 24 hours.
Just to get your 'aww!' factor in full swing, a small not-for-profit organisation - the Random Acts of Kindness Foundation (RAK) endeavours to encourage the world to live kindly, with purpose. Their overall vision statement is to 'strive to make kindness the standard in every aspect of life'.
As a tiny team of five, the privately-funded organisation has annually dedicated the second week of February (12th - 18th this year) to instilling people worldwide to consciously and actively demonstrate the little things, that though small and random, can ultimately make someone's day/week/life.
In the spirit of this sweet little week, we here at Chekoh have come up with some little, cost-free gestures to demonstrate each day - and who knows, you might actually find yourself feeling all warm and fuzzy and decide to keep them in your daily repertoire!
*February 17 only, 24 hours.
1. SMILE
Sounds silly, right? You are certain you definitely at least smile ten times a day...but how much better does it feel when you actually consciously and purposefully smile at someone? You may not feel like smiling in fact you may have perfected a sort of grimace-like, effortless shape with your lips (no? Just me?) that passes for a smile that's your 'go-to' as a busy parent but when you actually legitimately smile at someone, it is a completely uplifting experience. If they don't smile back, you then might feel a little silly which may cause you to have a little giggle so it's win-win, right?
2. CHAT TO A STRANGER
For me, this one is as natural as driving a car because I am a curious, over-sharing people-person and thrive on knowing the story of a stranger. Ask them how their day was, or simply chat about the weather, it will make you feel a little bit nice and may even lead you to make a new friend. You may just make someone feel interesting and may even get a smile out of them (two birds, you know?).
3. WAVE TO A FELLOW CAR-GOER
So a sleep-deprived, coffee-hunting, post-drop off parent loathes nothing more than the traffic kerfuffles that result from other sleep-deprived, coffee-hunting parents' trying to get that first (or second or third) hit of caffeine, and it is easy to fashion one of those grimace-grins or perhaps let out a quiet string of expletives under your breath as a release of tension. How about channeling that energy into a wave of solidarity? A little 'hi, coffee?! Yes, me too!' wave that will hopefully pass like dominoes through the row of parents in a hurry.
These three are just tiny little gestures that we probably already do mostly, but without connecting our heart and energy to them. Try it for a day. If it feels good (it will I swear), try the whole week!
*February 17 only, 24 hours.
RAK week starts February 13th, and as a token Random Act of Kindness we at Chekoh would like to extend to you FREE SHIPPING Australia wide, on the very last day of RAK week, Friday the 17th (24 hours only).
XO
Nikki
