Meeting challenges with acts of kindness

kindness

Meeting challenges with acts of kindness

These have been challenging times for everyone, and it has been striking how they have brought out the very best in people – and the worst.

I choose to focus on recognising the very best in people.

During the pandemic we saw those who are thoughtful get more thoughtful, the caring get more caring, and the kindness flow in places it may never have done without the challenges we have seen. There has been so much good that this pandemic has brought to the surface.

Meeting challenges with kindness

Young people have gone above and beyond. They have looked after neighbours, volunteered to go shopping for people, made deliveries and picked up medicines. Inspirational young people have washed cars, mown lawns, weeded gardens and raised money for charities.

One teenager in Staffordshire with learning difficulties even raised £10,000 for charities by doing 100 acts of kindness throughout the year.

Young people have taken it upon themselves to make sure people in their class and community are not lonely and feel that they have someone to talk to.

 

“Be kind, for everyone you meet is fighting a harder battle.”
Plato

 

Young people leading by example

Despite facing huge upheaval to their normal lives and missing out on learning and socialising, I have seen young people do carry out such amazing things over the past few months.

Kindness and thoughtfulness have been seen in the simplest ways, in small acts that make a huge difference in the moment – a smile, a laugh, a kind word, or words of encouragement when someone really needed it.

A thank you, a virtual hug, a ‘just thinking of you’ message. These acts of kindness cost nothing to give but are priceless to the receiver, especially when it is just at the right moment in time.

 

“Do your little bit of good where you are; it’s those little bits of good put together that overwhelm the world.”
Desmond Tutu

kindness challenge

Give to others and feel good

As human beings we have the capacity to love beyond measure, be generous to a fault and have compassion that is all encompassing. When we exercise these attributes, we not only give the gifts to others but receive the gift of feeling good for it.

There is no denying that the opposite also exists, and that people can be hateful, unsympathetic and ungrateful, which takes away positivity and energy from others. But you can’t give those things out and feel good at the same time. So, choose the win-win option and sprinkle a little happiness in the world that will also make you feel good.

When you do something kind, just because you can, and expect nothing in return, you send out ripples so wide into the world you have no clue what that effect may bring – but it will always be positive.

 

“Life becomes easier and more beautiful when we can see the good in other people.”
Roy T. Bennett

 

A kindness challenge

Continue in your random acts of kindness to share the love far and wide – and remind the world what amazing young people you are.

To help you along the way I would like to challenge you to a kindness challenge. I want to fill a book with 365 random acts of kindness specifically for young people. So please let me know what yours would be and if it is chosen it will appear in the book along with your name.

If your idea is chosen you will also receive a copy of the book and could win one of the following prizes up for grabs:

• 100 minutes of coaching/mentoring – with TeeJay via Zoom
• A signed copy of The Spark to Your Success – Helping Teens Build Resilience
• A free copy of the Mind Your Mind guide

So, get thinking, writing and creating ideas. Suggestions need to be suitable for any young person aged 13-19, anywhere in the world to do. They can be fun, quirky and inventive, and the act of kindness can be done in person, via the internet, by post, email or social media.

 

“No act of kindness, no matter how small, is ever wasted.”
Aesop

 

Choose the life you want to lead

Send me 10 ideas and you will receive a copy of Mind Your Mind, send in 50 ideas – and the 100 people with the most usable ways will win a signed copy of the new book The Spark to Your Success – Helping Teens Build Resilience. The person who sends in the best 100 ideas will win 100 minutes of coaching and mentoring from myself.

Send your entries to me via email here and look out for any posts on social media and share for extra opportunities to pick up a prize. Find us at:

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Be the change that the world needs to see – kindness will always win.

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