You may have heard about the benefits of committing random acts of kindness.  The benefits are very real and very concrete.

This works for people who are currently using, people who are in early recovery, people who are in long term recovery, and family members.  So try it yourself and suggest it to those who are close to you.

Helping others releases endorphins into the brain (a natural good feeling) and reduces stress.  Benefits include improvements in physical health and mental health.  And the benefits have been documented by scientific research.

But did you know that for best results you should commit these acts of kindness on a schedule?

You can get good results by commiting about 5 acts of kindness all during the same day about one day per week.

Acts of kindess can be just about any nice thing you can think of to do for another person.  The idea is to go beyond what is expected and reach out to another person in a way that demonstrates empathy for them by an actual act.  It’s not just about feeling empathy for another person, but going beyond feeling and actually acting on empathy so your empahty is made concrete and visible between you and the other person.

Watching for opportunities to be kind in and of itself can make a powerful change in the way we feel and look at the world.  Actually acting in kind ways has even greater power to change our emotional state and create conditions of happiness.

It’s ok to plan your act of kindness in advance (the idea of random acts of kindess was in response to the often heard phrase “random acts of violence”).

Acting out of the goodness within us benefits us and creates a ripple effect well beyond the person we reach out to with kindness.

I’m going to do 5 random acts of kindness on Mondays.  Pick a Random Act of Kindess Day for yourself and leave a comment on your experience.