Summary

The website content discusses the importance and positive impact of performing small acts of kindness and maintaining a gratitude journal.

Abstract

The article emphasizes that daily small acts of kindness contribute significantly to both the receiver's and the giver's well-being. The author practices gratitude by keeping a journal where they record their daily appreciations, starting with what they are most grateful for each day. The author views these acts of kindness not as obligations but as pleasures, driven by a belief in karma and the joy derived from making others smile. The article shares personal anecdotes of helping neighbors, such as delivering a misplaced letter, securing a car's gas cap, and closing an open front gate, illustrating how these simple actions foster happiness and a sense of community. The author suggests that kindness is a choice that can bring joy in a sometimes indifferent or hostile world, and it is a choice that costs nothing. Keeping a gratitude journal serves as a tangible record of these acts, reinforcing the habit of kindness and reminding one of the ease and impact of being kind over a lifetime.

Opinions

The author believes in the power of karma and that kindness will eventually return to the giver.
Acts of kindness are seen as a source of pleasure and a way to make others smile, rather than as obligations.
The author places significant value on the small acts of kindness, considering them as important as larger gestures.
There is a strong emphasis on the mutual benefits of kindness, with both the giver and receiver experiencing positive emotions.
The act of maintaining a gratitude journal is considered rewarding and serves as a reminder of the impact of kindness.
The author advocates for active involvement in life through kindness, as opposed to being a passive bystander.
The article suggests that choosing kindness over indifference is a key to living a cheerful and involved life.

Small Kindnesses and Keeping a Gratitude Journal

Little things do mean a lot — they all add up

**Photo by Roman Synkevych on Unsplash**

Small kindnesses done daily all add up. They not only make the person you are helping out feel good but also help us feel better. I keep a daily journal, and my first line is always about what I feel most grateful about every single day.

I look at doing small kindnesses as a pleasure, not an obligation. I believe in karma and what goes around comes around, but there is nothing like the good feeling we get when we make another person smile at an unexpected kindness.

Like today, I was able to help three different people out, all neighbors, in a meaningful way. First I gave my neighbor directly across from me an important letter from his credit union the mail person had put in my mailbox by mistake.

I had no idea what the letter was about, but he was all smiles when he saw what it was, and then so was I.

I also noticed another neighbor had the gas cap door on his car partially opened, not locked in place. He was also very happy when I called and told him about it.

I didn’t want to set off his car alarm, but at his urging, I closed it. No alarm went off, yay!

Again, we were both happy.

When I take my daily walk around my neighborhood, I always check to see if this one neighbor down the block has his front gate securely closed.

He is out of town for extended irregular periods, and his daughter drives by, collects his mail, and checks his house out once a week.

Today, the gate was wide open! Anybody off the street could have easily walked in and made their way to the back of his house.

This same thing happened last week when I was driving home from Safeway with my weekly groceries. So when I saw it, I stopped my car, turned on my flashers, and secured the gate before I went home.

It’s not a faulty gate, it is sturdy and strong. But often, the mail person, who is a different carrier every week, fails to shut the gate securely.

That neighbor never saw me today, but I always tell him when he returns I’m keeping an eye out for his house and his gate every day. That always makes both of us smile.

That’s just the way it goes, when we do good deeds for others we are doubly blessed. First in doing the deed itself, and then witnessing the gratitude of whomever we have the opportunity to help out.

Often, it is me on the receiving end of some random act of kindness, so then I am also grateful and know exactly how they feel.

It is a definite pleasure to do some small act of kindness for somebody. If you do, it will bring you a moment of joy in a mixed-up, often indifferent, or even hostile world.

It costs nothing to be kind, and this applies across the board. You can be kind to your mail carrier, your grocery store clerk, and your package delivery people daily.

So many people look the other way at situations and just walk on by, justifying their actions on the basis they are just minding their own business. Cold comfort.

Keeping a gratitude journal and faithfully maintaining it is a reward all by itself. We can always reread past acts of kindness as we leaf through them.

By keeping a ledger of these small kindnesses we can remind ourselves of how easy it is to be kind instead of indifferent, to be cheerful instead of surly, to be involved in life instead of passing through it.

Small kindnesses done daily all add up. It is the little things that count, especially over a lifetime. Try it, you will like it.

The small effort gets a double reward. Kindness counts. We are all connected…