The karma challenge

I am a firm believer that what you put out into the universe will come back to you 10 fold.  So to make the world a better place all we need to do is do good things for people and wait. Eventually you will be fulfilled  and in so doing, the world is elevated to levels of happiness and joy beyond our expectations. It all starts with one person doing a good thing for another. So what should you do? Funny you should ask. Here is a list of 50 suggestions. How many can you do in a day? A week? Then instead of waiting for the wave of goodness to come around, keep going. How many could you do in a year?  How many could you do repeatedly.

•  Compliment a stranger, be genuine.
• Hold a door open for someone. (this is easy, right?) Don’t cringe when they don’t acknowledge your efforts, that was never the point.
• Pay for the person in line behind you. (this is a classic, it’s the only reason I go to McDonald’s)
• Give a compliment about a waiter, waitress, sales clerk, etc. to their manager, this can make someone’s day.
• Leave encouraging post-it notes in a library books and other random places. (like little time bombs of positivity)
• Send flowers to someone anonymously. If you’re around when they arrive, witness the way they accept them and encourage them not to be suspicious.
• Be a courteous driver.  Let people merge in front of you. So simple yet so overlooked as a way to practice patience.
• Donate blood. (Giving the gift of life? C’mon why doesn’t everyone do this?)
• Introduce yourself.  Make new colleagues, classmates, etc. feel welcome. Remember, your best friend was once a stranger too.
• Treat everyone with the same level of respect you’d give to your grandfather.
• Share your lunch or a snack with someone who doesn’t have one.
• Put some change in an expired parking meter. I got caught doing this once and the guy wanted to give me a dollar, some people don’t know how to react to another’s kindness. That says, to me, that we need to do this more often.
• Check up on someone, “Hey just thinking about you, how’re you doing?“
• Tell your boss, teacher or professor that he or she is doing a great job and that you appreciate what they’ve taught you.
• Create places and things for others to enjoy, like decorating your house for the holidays
• If you overhear that it’s someone’s birthday, go out of your way to wish them a happy one.
• Ask someone for their opinion or advice. Nothing means more to a person than saying “I value the way you think.”
• Bring cookies or bagels to work for everyone. This is win-win, no matter how you cut it.
• Leave a thank-you note for the office janitors, our most under-appreciated co-workers.
• Help bag your own groceries at the checkout counter, if they let you.
• Offer your seat to someone when there aren’t any left.
• Let someone with only a few items cut you in line at the grocery store.
• Wave to a kid in the car next to you. Remember how you felt so “victorious” when someone waved to you as a kid?
• Spread good news. The other kind spreads itself.
• Repeat something nice you heard about someone else to many people but include that person in the process.
• Remember people’s names and address them accordingly, this is one I personally have to work on.
• Share your umbrella on a rainy day. I could watch that scene in Singin’ in the Rain after he see’s the cop, 1000 times and it never gets old.
• Listen intently to people’s stories without trying to fix everything. This one is hard…good luck.
• Give words of encouragement toward someone’s dream, no matter how big or small it is.
• Ask someone who enjoys cooking for a recipe. Cooks love to share, and offer taste tests, again…win-win.
• Stop and buy a drink from a kid’s lemonade stand and tip them.
• Ask someone you see every now and then if they’ve lost weight.
• Use all the manners you learned in Kindergarten. Have you ever had a young child correct your manners? It’s amazing how quickly we’ve gotten out of practice. 
• Forgive and let go of anger.  For instance, if somebody accidentally cuts you off in traffic, just let it go.
• Don’t be so serious all the time, those people are annoying.
• Speak the truth.
• Lend your body out: an ear to listen, a shoulder to lean on, a back to help someone move, or a leg to stand on.
• Offer encouragement after a failure.
• Tell a good clean joke to a kid
• Clean up after yourself.
• Excel at what you do.  People appreciate professionals.
• Redirect gifts.  Instead of having people give you birthday and holiday gifts, ask them to donate gifts or money to a good cause. I do this over the holidays.
• Stop to help.  The next time you see someone pulled over with a flat tire, or in need of assistance, stop and ask how you can help.
• Put a small personal touch on everything you do.  People notice and appreciate individuality.
• Help someone get active.  There’s a coworker or acquaintance in your life who wants to get healthy, but needs a helping hand.  Offer to go walking or running together, to join a gym together.
• Donate food to a charity.
• If you see a couple taking a self-pic, offer to take the picture for them.
• Help the shopper in front of you who needs that extra two or three cents to avoid breaking a 20-dollar bill.
• Come to the rescue.  If you realize someone is sick, bring them some hot tea, etc.
• Ask someone to babysit their kids so they can go out. busy people often forget to pencil in time for their relationship.

These are simple things that don’t take a lot of pre-planning or money. Being kind is the best thing you can show your children too, include them in on your “act of kindness” soon they will do it on their own. Can you imagine witnessing that? Is there anything that would make you more proud of your child? Or them more proud of you?

Leave a comment if you have dared to be kind and tell us how you did it.

The initial list was taken from Mark and Angel Hack Life.