#RAKWeek2015 - Let's Flood Social Media With Kindness

According to Wikipedia, a random act of kindness is a selfless act performed by a person or people wishing either to assist or to cheer up an individual person or a group of people. It all started in a Sausalito, California restaurant in 1982 when Anne Herbert scrawled these words on a place mat: "practice random acts of kindness and senseless acts of beauty".

Do you know that Feb 9-15 is International Random Acts of Kindness Week (RAK Week)? Read on.

What RAK Week Is All About

It is simply a 7-day celebration of kindness. Since we are always celebrating birthdays, anniversaries, promotions, etc., why not celebrate kindness for a change and rejoice in all the positivity it brings?

For one week, everyone unites to flood social media with kindness by sharing kind words and comments, inspiring stories of selfless acts, motivational quotes and anything else that demonstrates kindness. The goal is to reach 100,000 acts of kindness by the end of the week.

How You Can Participate

1. DO one (or more!) act of kindness. From the time you wake up in the morning until you go to bed at night, there are TONS of opportunities for you to be kind, so seize the chance! 
It can be an act of kindness to a family member, a friend, a colleague, a business associate, someone you’ve just met, a complete stranger, or even the person you see each day in the mirror - yourself! To get you started, check out the Kindness List below.

2. #POST your act of kindness using #RAKWeek2015 on social media. It doesn’t matter if your kind deed is big or small; do your part to help flood social media with kindness. Together, let’s achieve a record of 100,000 acts of kindness by Feb 15.

3. SHARE the kindness message on your social media and encourage others to perform kindness acts of their own. Every little helps!

The Kindness List

One small, thoughtful gesture can brighten up someone else’s day. Pick an idea here or be creative and come up with your own.

1. Top up someone's prepaid phone card.
2. Give a pair of movie tickets to a stranger.
3. Bring a special treat for the tea lady at work.
4. Send flowers to a friend you haven't seen for a long time.
5. Pay the toll for the driver behind you.
6. Buy an inspirational book for a friend.
7. Write an e-mail of appreciation to an old boss or colleague who helped you at some point in your career.
8. Make two packed lunches and give one away.
9. Start a conversation with someone you meet in the lift.
10. Buy a coffee for the person waiting in line behind you at the coffee shop.
11. Say hello to the person helping you at the supermarket check-out line.
12. Let someone in the queue at the post office go in front of you.
13. When you go out for lunch, ask the people around you if you can pick up anything they need.
14. Bring cut fruits to share with your co-workers.
15. Buy a meal for a security guard.
16. Keep an extra umbrella in the office and offer it to someone on their way home if it's raining.
17. Treat yourself to a spa session after completing a project.
18. Write a nice comment on someone's blog.*winks*

The list is endless. All it takes is some time, a little bit of effort, a small amount of money (or none at all) and huge doses of kindness.

If you have been tuning in to LiteFM, Hitz.fm, MIX fm or any other local radio stations recently, chances are you would have heard about Project #hopecouragestrength.

#hopecouragestrength is about doing random acts of kindness and spreading it in the community. It is based on the idea that no act of kindness, no matter how small ever goes unnoticed, so spread the love!

The radio crew have been promoting random acts of kindness in various ways. They have been helping to pay for people's groceries, handing out Touch & Go cards at LRT stations, paying the toll for motorists, giving free lunches to college students, visiting the children's ward at the hospital and many more.

They've done their part, so let’s do ours.

Join #RAKWeek2015 – let’s flood social media with kindness!

Lotsa Luv