Simplify your life {Week 11 – Kindness, Gratitude and Altruism}

I am a little amazed that I am sitting here writing up a post for week eleven of Simplify Your Life (SYL). Thank you to those following along and those sharing their journey. I feel like we are in this together and for that I am truly grateful.

In this block of SYL we are dealing with what I call “inner clutter”. The key difference with how I am organising SYL is that we are tackling all the inner issues that are often connected with complicated, stressful and/or overwhelming lives before actually trying to simplify various areas. Most people try to tackle the symptoms without ever looking at what is the root cause of their problems. To me, once you do the hard work of these first 12 weeks you will find tackling subjects like time management, our possessions, and difficult relationships easier to simplify. You will know what you stand for, what you are looking for in this life and what your priorities are.

As we address inner clutter we have looked at our expectations and standards (which can be putting a lot of pressure on us) and fears (which can be holding us back from reaching those goals). Our focus this week is on gratitude, altruism and kindness.

How are gratitude and kindness connected to simplifying your life?

As you focus on all that you are blessed with in this life you shift the emphasis away from material things and back to what is really important to you.

Gratitude can help ease your anxiety and frustration as you work towards goals and changes. As you connect with gratitude and kindness  your focus shifts to what  steps you have taken, the resources you have, the time and effort you have put in, and helps keeps things in perspective.

As you choose to focus on kindness you begin to let go of your need to be right and choose happiness and your relationships over criticising and nitpicking.

How can you easily incorporate gratitude, kindness and altruism into your life?

Change your focus to what you have, what you can give, what you can do for others.

Every day find things to be grateful for – even on our darkest days we can usually find things to appreciate. The more you acknowledge what you are grateful for the more you notice things to be grateful for.

Take time for connecting with people – slow down, really see others, connect with those in your community and day to day life.

Practical ideas for developing a gratitude and kindness practice

Create a daily gratitude ritual – either individually or as a family

• giving thanks at meals
• bedtime prayers
• everyone share three things they are grateful for that day
• keep a gratitude journal
• make a gratitude scrapbook with photos of what you are grateful for each day

Send out thank you’s / say thanks to people you deal with in your life

• great service you received
• a family member you appreciate
• a teacher you had or one your child has/had
• someone who helps with your child (a tutor/ instructor,  care giver/babysitter)

Give your partner acts of service without any expectations of reciprocity

• massages
• chores they normally handle
• letting them choose (restaurant, DVD, date night)
• offer to be the designated driver even if it is not your “turn”
• pack them a lunch (and include a note)

Volunteer or participate in your community

• donate children’s books to waiting rooms at doctor’s offices, hospitals, dentists, etc
• visit a nursing home with your children
• deliver coffee and treats to your local school administration office
• offer up your skills and services for free to teach someone else or assist them
• help a local teacher with “busy work” (copying, sorting etc) or provide extra supplies they need
• mow your neighbour’s front lawn while you are already out there

Slow down

• let someone go ahead of you in line at the shops or in traffic
• give up a parking space or stop to let someone know you are heading to you car so they can have your space
• stop to give directions to someone who seems lost
• check on someone you see get hurt
• help an elderly person load their groceries into their car
• write a letter or make a phone call to someone important to you

Be supportive of others

• babysit for friends
• bring food to a new mother and stop to help with her laundry or whatever she really needs
• cheer on a friend in a race
• give your friend a book you know she will love or that will help her
• comment on every blog post you read today and show that person they are being heard
• let someone else win the argument this time

Challenge for week 11: Incorporate this into your daily life. Start a gratitude journal, express thanks to others, set out to do random acts of kindness, look for a volunteer role in your community, or buy nice cards and write a whole heap of thank you letters- maybe start with your nearest and dearest , choose to be kinder every day and let things go. Another idea is to write your blog post on gratitude and link up with the 52 weeks of grateful at kidspot – this was my first step last year in creating a weekly ritual of reflection and things grew from there.

Whatever you choose to do it will all add up. The smile you get from the lady you hold the door open for. The wave from the car you just let in as she breathes a sigh of relief knowing she will be on time to school pick up. The way your spouse looks at you and the way you feel inside.

For a little extra inspiration watch this video below of a kindness based school (refresh your browser if it does not appear). My mission this week is to place inspirational quotes in books at my local libraries – I am going to put them in books I think will be picked up by people needing a little kindness and reassurance (think health, personal development, “how to sleep train your baby”, etc). I hope somewhere someone is going to start reading one of those books, feeling low, and will take comfort from a few words left by a stranger.

 

Link up for week ten – {face your fears}

If you blogged about your this or any Simplify Your Life challenges please add your blog post link below into the linky and not in the comments. If you do not see the linky refresh your browser and it will usually appear. Please remember if you link up take 15 minutes this week and visit some other bloggers and spread the feedback and support comment love.

 

 

If you have any stories of random acts of kindness I would love to hear them in the comments (either giving or receiving).

 

Find your simple,

Deb

 

 

Tagged as: inspiration, kindness