Yesterday (February 17th) was National Random Acts of Kindness Day!
Here in Toronto, it was also Family Day – thankfully given to us as a stat holiday here so everyone gets the day off – woo-hoooo! Mine didn’t start off so well (more on that, a story for another time)…

But in the meantime, here is a fantastic post from Thought Catalogue I came across listing some awesome, awesome, AWESOME random acts of kindness we could all do/use more of!!! (I’ve listed some of our favourite ones with mine and Danny’s thoughts on em, since for some reason, reblogging Thought Catalogue seems to act all skewy on WP… If you want to read the whole thing, I’m going to leave the reblog up in case it sorts itself out at a later date OR alternatively you could just search 25 Random Acts of Kindness with Thought Catalogue in whichever search engine you use, and the link to the full article should come up in the search results.

For now, here were some of my favourites:

“5. Stopping negative conversations when you realize that you are a part of them or standing up for someone who other people are speaking ill of without their knowledge. The only way to stop the vicious cycle is by actively choosing to do so, one instance at a time.” <—- THIS seriously needs to be an automatic thing. We all gotta help take care of each other and stand up for one another.

"6. Acknowledging people who work in maintenance at your office or apartment building. Asking them how they’re doing, getting to know them. Just the gesture of taking an interest in the people who many often blatantly ignore is enough to at least make their day." <—- Fantastic random act of kindness! And comes in handy too, when you need them in case of emergency's – TRUST ME!

"8. Paying for someone’s groceries, especially when it’s not much…" <—- Once there was this really mean lady at No Frills who let this young girl in front of her as she stood there with a cart full of items in the 16 items limit express lane. My mom had asked if it was possible for her also to go in front of her cuz she only had 2 bottles of pop and was in a hurry. The woman became angry at my mom and yelled at her and immediately the young girl she had let in earlier, swiftly picked up my mom's two 2-litre bottles of ginger ale and added them to her bill. My mom was so shocked when she finally went to fiddle around in her purse to pay the girl, the young woman refused to take it from her and just bid her to take care and have a nice day while everyone else glared at the mean lady who wouldn't let my mom in.

"9. Paying for someone’s drink, even if you’re not on a date." <—- There really should be a rule about this about alternating to making sure to have each other's drinks when going out with friends – one person can't be the only one treating ALL the time…

"10. Calling your parents." <—- Our parents would literally have our head if we didn't! (Not to mention, we're such suckas for our mamas!

"11. Striking up a conversation with the person you’re stuck with in the elevator, rather than just pretending they don’t exist." <—- Wait, doesn't everyone do this???

"13. Grabbing your roommate/significant other’s favorite food while you’re out shopping. It probably doesn’t cost much, it’s a tiny gesture of love, but one that will make them really happy…" <—- SO TRUE! Until this day, whenever I bring home my bestie's or mom's favourite thing (especially if its something I don't particularly like so they would never expect it to be in my grocery bag) they totally smile it out and get all giddy happy = totally worth it!

"14. Sending actual letters to people. Texts and emails are cute, but handwritten cards and letters are the things that people save for the rest of their lives." <— This I've found to be true feedback from anyone I've ever sent letters too… BESIDES the fact that I (and now Danny too) are SO card people!

"16. Sitting and talking with your grandparents, not out of obligation but interest. So often people interact with their relatives as a matter of routine and duty, not because they are awesome people with wisdom and stories and love. The idea that friendship can only exist between people of the same age range is insane." <—- Some of my most fulfilling relationships are with those vastly differing in age, either really much younger (kids) or very much older (elderly) and believe me, they're some of my most favourite!

"19. Giving the parking spot you were going to take to the person who pulled up just a second too late." <—I honestly can't say that I've ever actually done this… hmmm *makes mental note to do this for someone soon*

"22. Apologizing first." <— especially this last one though… how many of us are willing to be the bigger person and reach out FIRST, EVEN IF we were the ones NOT in the wrong?

Check out the full list and let's all be more mindful to try some or more of these everyday if not already okay? We know we will! =)