What you need
Pen
Paper (you could use your diary from last week’s activity)
Great Ideas
Start at the very beginning
- List one. Start with the people in isolation with you. Do not forget to include yourself. If you are living alone, do not forget to include your pets or your plants.
- List two. Pick the names of five people you think could use kindness in their lives
- List three (optional for the truly brave) Write down the names of three particularly unkind people or people you try to avoid. This does not have to include people you have had to cut out of your life for your own well-being.
Strain your brain
For each person on your lists, write down a short biography of who they are. Re-red my introduction to avoid being vague or impersonal. Use no more than 2 or 3 sentences but anyone who reads it should be able to get a true sense of who that person is. Including the bio of you. Write from a place of kindness.
Strain your heart
For the people on your third list, try to think of what makes them behave the way they do. What events or situations have shaped their perspectives. This is a put yourself in their shoes situation.
What do you love
For each person on the list, write one to three things about them that you love. List three is difficult so things you admire about them is perfectly acceptable and it does not need to be more than one thing.
What do they love
Now write down three to five things that each person truly loves. People, activities, pets, prized possessions, whatever. Write down the things that truly make them shine.
what do they need?
- Read what you have written about your first list and think of one meaningful act you can do for each person they would enjoy.
- Reread what you have written about your second list and think of one meaningful act you can do for each person that would help them or bring joy.
- Review what you have written about your third list and think of one meaningful act you can do that is acceptable to you, but can show them the power of kindness.
This is a difficult task, because you must think outside of the box and think what THEY would like based on what you have written about them, not something YOU would like or you think is good. With the ONE AND ONLY exception of the kind act you will do for yourself.
REview
Review your plan and make sure you have really thought about the best action. Sometimes it helps to start with a variety of options and then narrow them down to the best.
PLAN of ACTION
Now that you know what you want to do, decide when, where, how is the best time to perform this act of kindness. This requires emotional intelligence. Timing is everything when it comes to supporting someone. Too soon can aggravate their trauma, too late can be pointless.
Finally act
Perform you action and then put it out of your mind. It is not about getting a thank you or them reciprocating. It is about enjoying the fact that you did something out of pure love.