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90 Days of Kindness (Challenge)

smileBeginning October 1st, we are challenging ourselves to do 90 straight days of kindness for others.  We will be posting a minimum of 3-4 times per week to share with your our experiences and the difference it made in our lives that day.  We encourage you to also take up the challenge.  It is easy and fun while at the same time is a great way to give back to your community, family, friends, and people you don’t know. 

Here’s how it works: 1) Make a commitment to do at least one kind deed each day.  2) Create your own kindness meter account (it’s FREE) on idontstink.com.  3) Log into the kindness meter to look for ideas of kindness.  There are 8 tabs of kindness suggestions for you.  They are: Everyday, Environment, Office/School, Community, On the Road, Family, Friends, & Self Kindness. 4) Do your one kind deed (or more if you like).  5) Come back to idontstink.com and login to the kindness meter.  Add your kind deed to your personal meter and watch both yours and the public meter go up.  6) If something touched you while doing the kind deed, go to the latest blog post and tell us your story.  That’s it!

If you are uncomfortable sharing your story on the blog, you can always email me directly at: bill@positract.com. 

With loads of gratitude and kindness,

Bill

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Kindness, the New Stimulus Package

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Kindness, the New Stimulus Package

by Bill King

Are you just plain sick of being bombarded by the media with the untold horrors and predictions of our impending doom?  I’ve heard the words “Stimulus Package” so many times it doesn’t even mean anything anymore.

I want to introduce a new kind of stimulus package that doesn’t have a thing to do with the government:  Kindness.  What do you think would happen if everyone practiced being kind for just one day?  I sure as heck know.  The world as we know it would be transformed.

Impossible?  Consider this:  I organized a Kindness Challenge at a local arts and jazz festival a few weeks ago.  My goal was to remind people what happens when we practice being kind.  It’s a feeling most of us have forgotten.  The challenge was to entice 100 people attending the festival to do 100 kind acts within 100 minutes.  The result amazed everyone involved because when all was said and done, more than 130 people did over 400 kind acts in an hour!  To watch a short video covering the event, click here.

The video shows that when we truly give kindness from the heart, BINGO, a new kind of stimulus package is born.

Kindness is contagious.  It starts a ripple effect that has no limits.  Each act of kindness is like dropping a stone into the water.  First, the receiver of the kind act benefits.  That person then gives back a smile, a hug, laughter, or some other positive response.  So the giver also receives.

Then something truly amazing happens.  Any person who simply witnessed the kind act also benefits. In Meaning & Medicine, author Dr Larry Dossey states helping others “can stimulate healthy responses in persons at a distance who may view it only obliquely.”  This witness may then be inspired to do a kind deed too, and the ripple effect could never end.

How can you start a stimulus package in your own world?  3 steps.  First, feel gratitude for all the fine things in your life.  Defy the media and change your perspective.  Choose to see the good, and more of what’s good will start to reveal itself to you.  Second, spend as much time as you can doing the things you love.  If you enjoy sitting on the porch and listening to the wind, spend more time doing it.  If you love to listen to your favorite music, do that more often.  Doesn’t cost a thing!  Third, practice being kind to yourself and others every single day.  Model kindness and inspire others to do the same.

Need a little inspiration to give yourself a kick-start?  Watch this video.  Change your mind; change the world.

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Kindness Challenge

Last weekend was simply an amazing weekend for me.  I am so humbled by all the help from the volunteers as well as img_1048_editedthe participants for the Kindness Challenge on Sunday, April 26th.  In case you are unaware of what the Kindness Challenge was, here are the details.  We challenged the attendees of the Denton Arts & Jazz Fest to do 100 Kind Deeds in 100 Minutes on Sunday afternoon.  It was such a success, we completed it in only 41 minutes!  We added another 30 cards and completed them in 20 minutes!

One thing that I realized is that it was much more than 100 kind deeds because a number of the kindness cards that were pulled contained up to 10 kind deeds.  The totals for the event was 269 Kind Deeds completed in 41 minutes and another 140 completed in 20 minutes for a total of 409 Kind Acts in 61 minutes!  Thank you to all the  participants of the Kindness Challenge.

If you attended the event or witnessed any of the kind deeds, we would love to hear what you experienced.  All you have to do is comment to this message.  We look forward to hearing what you have to say.

With love, gratitude, and joy,

Bill

Kindness Challenge Booth Offered at Denton Arts & Jazz Festival

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KINDNESS CHALLENGE BOOTH OFFERED AT DENTON ARTS & JAZZ FESTIVAL

KIND DEEDS TO BE GIVEN ALL WEEKEND LONG
Sunday, April 26th, attendees of the Denton Arts & Jazz Festival will be challenged to do 100 kind things in 100 minutes.  But it will not stop there.  Kind deeds will be handed out and shared all weekend long.

The festival is scheduled for April 24th thru 26th and there will be a Kindness Challenge Booth set up to do kind deeds for others.  Sponsored by The Good Samaritan Society Lake Forrest Village and hosted by idontstink.com, the Kindness Challenge Booth offers a refreshing way to be of service to others and raise awareness of the power of kindness.

“We are extremely excited to be a part of this extraordinary event.  We pride ourselves in helping others but this challenge is to get others to do kind deeds also.” says Shannon Ratliff, Staff Development Coordinator at The Good Samaritan Society Lake Forest Village.  “I am truly honored to be in the company of so many outstanding volunteers for this event,” says Bill King of idontstink.com, organizer for the booth.  “Our goal is to inspire others to take a new look at how they live their lives, and to embrace the concept of doing kind deeds when they leave the event.”

The Kindness Challenge Booth will be offering a variety of kindness throughout the entire festival.  They will be handing out stickers, flowers, cards, gifts, coupons, and so much more.  When you attend the Arts & Jazz Festival, be sure to stop by and be challenged to do a kind deed.

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Gratitude

Last weekend my wife and I went to Jack Canfield’s workshop, The Success Principles.  It was an incredible event and I would img_0922recommend you going to one if you have the opportunity.  I felt the workshop was reaffirming to me.  It taught me that I am on the right track and it gave me a number of things to work on.

One thing in particular that really hit home with me was around gratitude.  He talked about having a gratitude journal and updating it nightly.  I have been journaling daily since the start of 2008 so that was nothing new to me.  I also evolved my journaling into a section on gratitude.  Every night I give gratitude to whatever comes to mind.  I write at least 10 things I am grateful for.

What made Jack’s talk about gratitude so special was the following.  He said something to the effect, “Just writing that you are grateful for something doesn’t mean a whole lot.  You have to attach the feeling of gratitude as you write it.”  He went on to say that one author he knows doesn’t get out of bed in the morning until he has a tear of gratitude.  Wow!  That hit me like a light bulb going off.

So what am I doing different now?  Thank you for asking!  Every night when I get to my gratitude section, I write the name, place, event, etc. and then pause for a moment and reflect on a very positive memory.  Then I go to the next and repeat.  It adds maybe 2 minutes but man, I definitely feel the difference.  I am in a completely different state each night than I was prior to doing this.

Happy gratitude journaling.

Peace, love, and gratitude,

Bill

Happy Valentine's Day Gift

Please enjoy a gift from us at IDontSTINK this Valentine’s Day.  ids_valentinesClick the heart below or go to https://idontstink.com/index.php?p=valentines to get the eCard designed specifically for this site.  Feel free to send it to as many people as you like.  The eCard contains a short cartoon designed to put a smile on your face and anyone you send it to.   Make sure to turn your sound up!

After you send the card to your friends and family, go to your personal kindness meter and log this kind deed.  Go to https://idontstink.com/index.php?p=idontstink_kindnesschallenge to log this kind act.

Peace, love, and smiles,

Bill

Kindness Today

Today is a good day to do something kind for yourself. I know that it is probably easier to do something kind for someone else, but today, do something for yourself. I am going to do a few things. First, I am going to do one thing that I have been putting off for quite some time. Then I am going to create my mini vision board picture frame for February. In considering what I would do today, I wanted to make sure to do something that was fun. I realized that haven’t played any games (xBox, online, etc) in a long, long time. So with that in mind, I am going to take an hour or so and play a game. I cringe as I think about the wasted time that I could be doing something productive but you know, it is productive when you think about it. Doing something fun puts you in a good mood and it really is a good thing to do something that lets your mind rest for awhile.  When you are relaxed and happy, you will automatically be helping others with your good attitude.

Peace, love, and FUN!

Bill

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You Can Make A Difference

When I was walking on the beach this morning I noticed several pieces of trash.  I walked to my regular spot where I turn around and head back when it dawned one.  How many people walk by noticing trash in the street, in a park, by a lake, by an ocean, etc. and don’t do anything.  I thought, why not me? and why not now? 

So on my way back, I looked for anything that needed to be taken to a trash can.  Very quickly I started noticing lots of cigarette butts.  Each time I bent over to pick one up I woud think, how is this really helping?  I continued this for a good 20 minutes and had at least 50 of them in my hand when I had a thought.  That thought was how can I really make a difference?  There was no way I could pick up all the cigarette butts up and it seemed the more I looked for them, the more I saw.  I continued for another 10 minutes and made 3 trips to the trash cans to drop off my collection.  I thought about what I was doing and it dawned on me, yes, I can and did make a difference, at least for this beach on this day. 

It is kind of like the kindness challenge on my idontstink.com website.  It all starts with one kind act at a time.  If you try to fix the whole beach, the whole city, the whole country, the whole world, you probably will not get very far.  Start changing the world you see by doing one kind act today.  Then if the urge exists, do more kind acts for yourself and others.  That is how you make a difference.  As Gandhi put is so clearly, “We must be the change we wish to see in the world.” 

Peace, love and gratitude,

Bill

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When is a good time to practice forgiveness?

Earlier today, I drove to my wife’s work to take her out to lunch.  While on my way, I kept having cars driving way below the speedlimit and keeping me from passing them.  There was a 3-lane road with 3 vehicles driving approximately the same speed all lined up side-to-side.  I didn’t pay much attention to it.  Then, on the way back home more cars were driving even slower.  I was now starting to get a little frustrated.  Just when that happened, I got behind 4 bikers riding no more than 10 MPH.  I safely changed lanes and then a tractor was in my lane going even slower.  I still hadn’t done anything to address this growing frustration.  Still on the way home, I was on one of the interstate highways when everyone was slowing down abruptly for some reason I could not see.  When I got there, I saw a person talking on the cell phone and obviously not paying attention to the fact she was driving 20 MPH below the posted speed limits.   This was starting to bother me more and more.  Believeit or not, this happend a few more times before I got home.

When I got home I realized that I could have avoided the frustration by practicing forgiveness.  So to answer the question, “When is a good time to practice forgiveness?, practice it while you are in the car.  Anytime something frustrates you at all, do what I typically do (except for today) by practicing forgiveness.

Here is what I “normally” do when I am in my car.  If someone cuts in front of me or acts like an idiot or something and it gets me even slightly frustrated, I say the following: “I forgive you for ______ and I forgive my self for having to forgive you.  Thank you.”  In the case where someone cuts in front of me, it might sound something like this: “I forgive you for cutting in front of me and I forgive myself for having to forgive you for doing it.  Thank you.”  I have done this for years but every now and then I have a brain freeze and forget to do it.  When you make practicing forgiveness a part of your routine, I promise, you will feel much better about the commute and yourself.

Peace, gratitude, and forgiveness,

Bill

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Change Your Thoughts

Yesterday, my wife and I delivered Meals on Wheels to shutins in our community.  Before I started, I was having a very hectic and frustrating morning.  The thing that I noticed as soon as I started doing kind deeds for others by volunteering my time, my thoughts about the frustrations subsided.  My energy increased and my outlook was much more positive.

I do love delivering the meals to these people.  One of them is all dolled up with make-up and nice clothes each time.  My wife talks to her each time and compliments her appearance.  I wonder if she does it every day or just the days that MOW delivers.  One older man answered the door and the first words were “Ya gonna get wet!”  He said it in a raspy tone.  I looked up to see a bright sunny day and said, “Nope, we going to miss it.”  He looked back and gave me a look that said you are going to need an umbrella.  A couple of deliveries later, another older man said, “It’s gonna rain.  We need it though so that is good.”  I walked back to the car and sure enough, there was a dark line of clouds coming.  Within a few minutes there was a downpour.  And guess what?  Yep, I got wet!

If you are feeling a littel down and need a boost of energy, try volunteering for some community service.  I promise you will feel better when you are done.

Peace and kindness,

Bill