Day 5 – Sept 28 – The 21 Day Kindness Project

Day One | Day Two | Day Three | Day Four | Day Five

21-Day Kindness Project: Day 5

It is not that real kindness requires people to be selfless, it is rather that real kindness changes people in the doing of it, often in unpredictable ways. It can be a risk precisely because it mingles our needs and desires with the needs and desires of others, in a way that so-called self interest never can. Kindness is a way of knowing people beyond our understanding of them.
– Adam Phillips

Gift One of Your Favorite Books:

Books can serve as a beacon or a lifeline along our journey. They can be a place of refuge and renewal. They can get us through hard times, and sometimes inspire us to expand our understanding and open doors to new levels of awareness. And sometimes they bring just pure enjoyment!

Today, the suggestion is to think of a book that has special meaning for you, and gift it to someone you think would enjoy it. Maybe it is a book that shaped your life trajectory, or comforted you through a difficult time, or a book that brought you inspiration or uncontrollable laughter. Think of the perfect person to give the book to, or you could leave it on a park bench or at a restaurant table for a stranger to find. You might inscribe a special message in it or leave a handwritten note between the pages describing what this book means to you and why your want to pass it on.

if the opportunity does not present itself for passing on a book personally, you might go through your collection of books and choose some that you probably will not read again, and leave them in a neighborhood Little Free Library for others to pick up and enjoy for free. Somehow a free book often feels like a lucky treasure.

Books can open unexpected doors for people, just as receiving an unexpected kindness can do. They are agents of change and hold the potential to broaden, deepen and open us up.

21 days of kindness