Where to start if you don’t know where to start. When starting or continuing on your personal development journey, a key factor is to be kind to yourself. This can be a difficult switch if you are used to beating yourself up. It is so much easier to be kind to your friends than to yourself. For some reason, I believed that beating myself up would get me to change, but I was wrong! It really takes choosing kindness and compassion. So if you need a starting point use small acts of kindness.

Small acts of kindness can come in many different forms. If you would like to be kinder to yourself, then you can tailor the exercise to yourself. If you would like to be more thoughtful and kinder to your friends then tailor it to your friends. Maybe you are like me and often like to wall off to the world. If this is the case and you would like to be kinder to strangers, then tailor the exercise to that! Lastly, and probably the hardest is maybe you would like to be kinder to the people you don’t like! Or you can mix and match! The goal is to do one kind thing a day, for 30 days! 

Being Kind to Yourself

1. Tell Yourself “I love you” when looking in the mirror
2. Eat an apple
3. Go for a walk
4. Relax and take a bubble bath
5. Stop yourself when you start to beat yourself up
6. Make your bed
7. Buy yourself some flowers 
8. Take 5 minutes and just sit in silence
9. Do something you used to love when you were young

Being Kind to Your Friends

1. Give your friend a hug
2. Surprise your friend with some flowers
3. Write your friend a handwritten letter 
4. Tell your friend how much you appreciate them 
5. Treat your friend to some ice cream
6. Send them a card on their birthday
7. Listen when they talk about a problem instead of trying to offer advice
8. Put down your phone when out together 
9. Pick up a small gift that reminds you of them 

Being Kind to Strangers 

1. Smile at someone you don’t know
2. Hold a door open for them
3. Give them a compliment 
4. Leave a kind post it in a public restroom mirror
5. Let someone go ahead of you while driving or in traffic 
6. Pay for the person behind you in line 
7. Let someone cut in front of you in line at the grocery store 
8. Leave a big tip at a restaurant 
9. Donate to charity

Being Kind to People You Don’t Like

1. Give them a genuine compliment 
2. Start to forgive them
3. Have a conversation with them
4. Learn something new about them (potentially find common ground on something)
5. Give them a small gift you know they will like 
6. Ask them if they need help with anything
7. Give them the benefit of the doubt 
8. Hold healthy boundaries with them 
9. Take a couple deep breathes before you respond to them 

XO,

Ellie Curry