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I recently attended a positive psychology course with Louisa Jewel of Positive Matters. It was a wonderful two days, and as one might
expect at a positive psychology workshop, I met some incredible people, whose stories I hope to share over the
next week or so.
To begin, a story that takes place at a school in St.
Catharines, Ontario. Perhaps it can remind us, although our hearts are heavy
with sorrow, and aching for the families of Sandy Hook Elementary School, of
what can be inspiring and transformative about school.
Early, long before the school bell rang, 20 young people set
out to encourage their fellow students with 1000 acts of kindness. Although the
event was meant to celebrate Random Acts of Kindness Day, there was nothing
random about this at all – it was carefully planned, and one might even say in
fact that it was a Deliberate Act of Kindness (which is really the best kind!).
In their own words, and pictures, here is their story…..
- What inspired you to do this?
Our club, Mosaic, decided to do
something for random act of kindness day so we were brainstorming ideas. We
were inspired by another school in our area who also had the idea to post
anonymous sticky notes with compliments on them. We wanted to do something
special because we felt like our school really needed something like that to
happen. - What was the reaction of your friends and others at the school?
Of course there were mixed
reactions from the people in our school. The majority of people were in awe
when they walked into school that day, and they thought it was cute.I saw a lot
of people just slowly walking down the hallways, reading each different sticky
note as they passed (some even took a few for themselves to keep). We got a lot
of positive feedback from all the students and staff. We didn't advertise that
we were the ones that did it, so no one thanked our group personally but there
were posts on facebook and instagram thanking whomever did it! The only
negative feedback that we got was that it was a "waste of paper", but
the smiles and the compliments that we got made it all worthwhile.
- Has this little project inspired you to be more aware of kindness, and to do more?
YES!!!
- What is the best thing about being kind?
The best thing about being kind is seeing the smiles and
knowing that you made it happen.
