by Sherri Trevino

Created on: March 09, 2009   Last Updated: December 31, 2009

Healthy acts of kindness are done in many different ways. Whether you are giving to or helping out a family member, a friend, a stranger in need, the community as a whole, or the environment, you are making a remarkable difference in the life of another person, as well as for yourself.

There are so many gifts of kindness to be considered. Some of these acts of kindness are second nature to us, and we do not even recognize that we have given a gift to someone. An example of that is the gift of affection, where we hug or kiss a friend or a loved one. Then there is the gift of encouragement, when we praise someone for a job well done. Or the gift of compliment, when we thank someone for a lovely meal, or tell someone how good they look. Then there are gifts of laughter, such as sharing funny stories, or telling cute jokes which cheer up low spirits and warm hearts. And we all sometimes need the gift of listening, where we simply listen with compassion to someone who needs to talk. While doing this, we do not interrupt, we do not respond, we just quietly listen to someone who needs an ear.

Another healthy act of kindness is the gift of service, where we donate cash to charitable organizations, or where we donate our time to hospitals, nursing homes, schools, or homeless shelters. Time and money donations are probably the two most common and most popular acts of kindness that we practice.

But there are countless other ways to show kindness as well. You can offer to baby sit for the tired mother who needs to get away for a break. You can deliver a cooked meal to a family who is suffering through the illness of a family member, or a recent death in the family. You can reach out to elderly seniors who are either homebound, or living in a nursing home, by just visiting them or going for a walk with them. You can cheer up the sick by taking stuffed animals to hospitalized children. Or you can write letters of thanks and encouragement to our honored heroes in the service. You can even show long distance kindness by being a penpal to someone in another country. You can generously give to the environment by volunteering to clean up parks or remove graffiti in urban neighborhoods. Or you can help the underprivileged by volunteering to help build homes for the needy. Or you can cheer up a homeless person by giving them a nice sack lunch.

So, as you can see kindness comes in many varieties, and can be shown in many ways. Other random acts of kindness are more subtle ways to

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