Welcome to the Kindness Challenge Jan 2012

We're thrilled to be invited to share the Kindness Challenge Jan 2012 with Stillwater Patch users.

It starts New Year's Day, so here's the scoop:

Who are we? We’re a group of Minnesotans from the metro area who have started a worldwide movement to “warm the world” through kindness in just 31 days.

Our goal? Inspire people around the world to perform 1,000,000 acts of kindness during January, 2012.

How does it work? It’s easy.

1. Visit our website or follow us on Facebook where you'll find lots of ideas on acts of kindness you can use in any area of your life.
2. Start spreading kindness.
3. Log your acts of kindness and share your stories on our website to help build momentum and awareness of the power of kindness.

So what IS kindness?

“Kindness is a selfless act performed to help or cheer up others, for no reason other than to make people happier. It can be spontaneous or planned in advance, extended to people you know and people you don’t.”

Kindness is an amazing thing. It can be so simple. And it’s free. Yet it has the power to change lives. And in a world increasingly divided, it can still reach across all ages, backgrounds, opinions, conflicts, and connect human beings together in a profound way.

An act of kindness can be simple:

• a smile to a stranger on the bus
• a world of praise to our spouse

It can be spontaneous:

• picking up a mitten a child has dropped
• letting a car merge in front of us

or planned in advanced:

• bringing treats to an elderly neighbor
• buying groceries for a food shelf

It can be anonymous:

• paying for another customer’s donut
• leaving a great book when someone will find it

or be done for someone you know:

• helping our sister or little brother
• be-friending a new work colleague

It can be FREE or involve a monetary gift or special gift of your time. It can be performed by an individual (YOU) or be a group effort (your friends or family or work place or church. . .)

At it’s most basic, kindness is about genuinely caring for others around you and wanting the best for them. It’s just that simple.

Experts say it takes 30 days to create a new habit. Doing just one kind act per day during January is a great habit to start – a habit guaranteed to change YOUR life.

Join us in our goal to make a difference in the world.  It will change your life.