Be a Kindness Opportunist

I celebrated another birthday last month, and as has been the case for the past 11 years, I enjoyed a flood of Facebook well wishes. Not to sound boastful, but the number of messages I received was almost overwhelming, and that got me thinking about the effects of simple gestures, like a Facebook birthday wish.

 I know that not everyone is as nostalgic as I am, and that some people don’t even like acknowledging their birthdays, much less celebrating them, but I think that most of us enjoy people being nice to us. Our birthdays give people an excuse to be nice to us, and Facebook makes it easy to do so. I try to take advantage of that as much as possible.

For those not familiar with Facebook, the social media platform notifies users of their “friends’” birthdays daily. You click on a link, and a dialogue box appears for you to post a note on your friend’s wall. It’s simple, free and takes mere seconds to let someone know that you are thinking about them on their birthday.

It’s also simple, free and quick to spread that type of kindness in the real world, but we often miss opportunities to do so. Think of the people you see on a daily basis, like your colleagues, the person who checks you in at the gym every day or the cashier who sells you your morning coffee. Do you take these opportunities to spread kindness through your world or does self-consciousness gets in your way?

I’ll admit that I sometimes hesitate when I look at my Facebook notifications and see birthdays for people I haven’t seen in years and some I’ve never personally met. In those cases, I will briefly consider the possibility that I will look foolish for wishing them a happy birthday, but then remind myself that it’s a chance worth taking. The world needs kindness now, more than ever, and if I occasionally look foolish spreading that kindness, so be it.

It’s also important to encourage and reward kindness. Acknowledging kindness encourages kindness.

This year, I wanted to appreciate fully the birthday wishes I received, so I resolved to respond to each message with a personal note, using the well-wisher’s name while acknowledging the greeting. It would have been much easier to simply hit the ‘like’ button, as I had done in previous years, but I wanted to keep the good vibes flowing and to encourage others to do the same.

It took me all week to respond to all of these messages, and several times during the process, I caught myself mindlessly thanking someone, which was exactly the opposite of what I was trying to accomplish, so I forced myself to slow down and appreciate the kindness that I was blessed with.

We should all slow down and take the time to appreciate and share kindness every day. It costs nothing, anyone can do it, and it can make the world a better place.