Yesterday kicked off Random Acts of Kindness Week, for 2018. I have celebrated this awareness raising week for several years now. Each year has a different theme. For 2018 the week is structured around a question. Who’s your one?
Observed every February, Random Acts of Kindness Week, shortened to RAK Week, focuses on uniting people through generating kindness. Led by the RAK Foundation, officially recognized in 2000, this seven day celebration seeks to demonstrate how kindness starts with one…one person, one kind act.
For 2018, in addition to practicing random acts of kindness, the invitation is to share about the one person who has most impacted your life. Who has inspired you to be a better person? It could be a friend or family member who encouraged you, a teacher who saw your potential, a singer whose song changed the course of your life.
During this week, think about who those people are and tell their stories, share a photo, let the world know that that person, those people, have helped to shape your journey. On social media, tag any posts or photos with #RAKWeek2018 and #CaptureKindness.
I will be sharing stories this week, about people who have impacted my life, beginning with tomorrow’s post. Because I post about my family so often…my immediate family members and my larger extended family…I am going to exclude them. In truth, my family, all of my family…Greg, my children, their spouses, my grandchildren, and beyond that circle, grandparents, parents, stepparents, siblings and their families, aunts, uncles, cousins…ALL have had a tremendous impact on my journey, all have contributed in some profound way. I am deeply grateful for each of them.
I will be sharing this week about some others who have made a lasting impression on me, shifted my thinking or walked with me through a difficult time. I’m allowing my heart to open wide, and I am taking note of who appears and what memories stir.
And I am intentional about offering kindness, in myriad small ways. I have ideas popping into my head…tucking encouraging notes into favorite books at the library, taking pet food to the local animal shelter, handing out Valentines to strangers, donating my time to an organization.
I’m excited to see what unfolds this week, and who enters my awareness to write stories about. And I am happy to change my corner of the world, and send ripples of compassion outward into the universe, one act of kindness at a time.
