Today marks the first day of the 90 Days of Kindness Challenge here at idontstink.com. Feel free to post your comments to this or any posts for the Kindness Challenge. Now get out there and do kind deeds and let’s see how many kind deeds are logged on the kindness meter for this challenge.
With tons of gratitude and kindness,
Bill
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.
Last weekend was simply an amazing weekend for me. I am so humbled by all the help from the volunteers as well as 
the 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
Press Release issued 4/6/09
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.
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
Yesteday while I was having my own Father’s day celebration, I thought about my dad a lot. By the time I called to tell him that I loved him, he had already gone to bed. I was bumbed out a bit because of missing him so I thought I would write a little post about what my dad means to me.
My dad is that absolute most kindest man in the world. He would never hurt anyone intentionally and would give the shirt off his back in an instant. This made me reflect on a story about 28 years ago.
My dad was a used car salesman and owned his own car lot and body shop on several occasions. Every Thursday night, he would head off to Shreveport, LA to the auction. Most of the time, I drove a car over there for him so he could sell it at the auction.
Although this happened numerous times, I recall one incident on one of those trips to Shreveport. This time, I was riding with my dad to Shreveport for the auction when he spotted a hitch hiker with a backpack. As soon as dad saw him, he pulled the car over and offered him a ride. Dad asked him his name, told him ours, (there were four of us in the car) and proceeded to talk to him about all sorts of things. Dad told him we were heading to Shreveport so that was as far as we could take him. The hitchhiker graciously thanked him for his kind deed. Once we got back on the interstate, Dad asked him where he was going. The hitchhiker told him he was headed out west. I can’t recall why but he told dad a lot of things that had occurred to him to make that decision. I sat in the back seat and watch the scene with amazement. I could see that the hitchhiker changed his attitude as he could tell someone was really listening to him. It was quite an exchange and I watched it as if I were taking notes and a pop quiz was to follow. I do know that it was quite cold outside and the hitchhiker was very happy to have a heater going.
We drove another forty-five minutes before we had to exit the interstate. We pulled over and dad told him to keep his head up and things would start looking up for him soon. He reached into his pocket and handed the hitchhiker a twenty dollar bill and then a ten dollar bill. The guy was beaming now. He nearly lit up right there on the cold, dark highway.
We drove on and my dad did not say a single thing. I was still completely amazed by what I just witnessed. I was always told by everyone to never pick up a hitchhiker and yet my dad did it every single time he saw one. I am sure that it made that poor man’s day, probably a month to follow. Dad always gave them money even if he did not have very much of his own.
While reflecting upon that story, I learned a lot about my dad and life. I learned that if you come from a place of service or compassion, you can change people’s lives. Just one single kind act can change someone’s life. It never occurred to my dad about not stopping to help him. He listened with empathy as the man poured out his guts about the tragic events that occurred to him several years before.
This is the type of person my dad is. Thank you dad for setting such high goals for me to follow.
I love you. Happy Father’s Day!
Bill
Yesterday, my wife and I were on our way home from the office. At a busy intersection, a car honked then cut in front of me to pull off the road. Immediately, I put on the brakes to let him over. I then noticed there was a guy pushing the car off the road. I pulled in right behind him to stop my car and help but it was going downhill for the moment. I put on the flashers and awaited for his momentum to stop. It did as he pulled into a gas station.
He had run out of gas and knew it. The problem was that the rest of the way was uphill. I jumped out and immediately began pushing. We had momentum until he accidently hit the curve and all of our momentum was stopped immediately. Then, out of no where, it was like we were trying to push a brick wall. The car started backwards and I told him to hit the brakes because there was nothing left in either of us. I thought that maybe we could rest a bit and start again. We waited a minute and started and we weren’t able to move it a single inch as it actually started rolling backwards. The temperature was 100 degrees and it is amazing how quickly you can run out of all your energy.
Now the coolest thing happened. Several other guys dropped what they were doing and came running up to help. It was perfect timing because I was just about at the point that I was thinking we couldn’t push it the rest of the way. I thanked both of these guys as a third guy came running up. It was such a positive experience. The guy with the empty tank looked back to me three times as I got in my car to drive away. First he nodded and said thank you. As I pulled off, he gave me a very kind gesture with his eyes that felt so good. That is what true gratitude FEELS like when someone expresses it.
Peace and kindness,
Bill
PS – Pass it on!
One week into the Kindness Challenge has been a major success. Currently there are over 1,100 kind acts logged. THANK YOU! Please remember to send me your stories of kindness by either emailing me at bill@positract.com or posting your comments under the blog post below.
You really are making a difference. Thank you, thank you, and THANK YOU!
