After a tumultuous 2016, it’s time to get back to basics. And, in my opinion, nothing is more basic than kindness. Kindness to others. Kindness to ourselves. Kindness to our pets. Kindness to our planet.

I am making a new personal commitment to kindness and I invite you to join me. Can you imagine the impact of blanketing the world with kindness for the next 52 weeks? Would we feel better about ourselves and our neighbors? Definitely. Would more people feel part of their communities? Probably. Would we reduce our divisiveness as a country? Possibly. Would we reduce violence in our communities? Possibly.

So let’s talk about performing acts of kindness . . .

How will I spread kindness and how can you participate? 

Each week in 2017, let’s do three things:

1. Perform an act of kindness for others;
2. Perform an act of kindness for ourselves; and
3. Hold each other accountable.

Easy right? I’m no fool. I know it’s not going to be easy. We all have complex lives and sometimes best laid plans get derailed. That’s why I’m only suggesting we perform two acts of kindness each week and keep each other accountability. Of course, we can all do more each week, but if we simply focus on one act in each category, I believe we’ll be able to consistently meet the goal.

What about accountability? How can we hold each other accountable?

Tell me you want to participate by commenting on this blog post and share this post far and wide. Follow the Little Merry Sunshine Facebook page, share the page with your friends, and share your acts of kindness on the page. Follow and tweet me. Comment on my blog posts with your ideas and your successes spreading kindness.  More than that, I’d love to get together to perform acts of kindness in a group. More on an idea about that in the next few days.

Share stories you hear about kindness with me. I’ll do the same. I’m going to be writing about acts of kindness all year to help keep us motivated, will share stories I see in the media. I’d love to also share your stories, so email me if you’d like to be featured. I’ll also create a kindness page that you’ll find on the top of the Little Merry Sunshine homepage so you can find all of the posts about #Kindness2017.

Wherever you share and discuss kindness, use the hashtag #Kindness2017, so we can all participate.

Okay, I’m in. What’s next?

Over the next two days, I’ll post two lists. The first list will be acts of kindness to perform for others and the second will include acts of self-kindness. Each week, choose one act of kindness from each list and go spread the love. Then report in.

I’m excited about the possibilities 2017 brings with it and I hope you are too. By spreading kindness, I’m sure we’ll make the world a better place.

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