Random Act of Kindness

I love giving freely without expectations. I love surprises! I love to surprise people. And I love it even more, when I don't see the surprise-moment. I just imagine it in my head and hope, that exactly the right person found my present, my message, my surprise.

Do you do random acts of kindness often? If so, please tell me all your ideas in the comments! A library of ideas what we can do to bring joy and a happy smile into this world, that's the best, right?

If you've never heard about that «concept», it's super simple: You prepare a little gift, a message, something positive to surprise a stranger (you can do this in your office or in your own house too, of course, but for me it's even more fun if it is a stranger) to brighten up his or her or their day. That's not difficult to grasp, right? So, let's dive into all the possibilities right now.

I'm a big fan of EASY random acts of kindness. Go through all your books and sort out the ones you'll never read again. Write a little but kind message about the book or about you or that you're wishing the finder a great day on a sticky note or directly into the book and leave it in the bus, in the train, on a park bench.

When I started leaving the books, I didn't want any more, in public transportation in Zurich, I didn't write a note yet. I just thought how cool to find a book and read it instead of the newspaper with all the bad news or being glued to the phone. One of them was a cookbook for kids. I used it a lot as a kid and loved it. There are recipes in it like pizza toast made from stale bread or how to make lemonade I still make today. I placed it in the tram and wished it good luck and to bring a happy smile to someone’s face. A week later my mother called me, that they got a package for me in the mail with my maiden name on it. I had no idea and asked her to open it for me. You know what was in there... the cookbook. I didn't check the inside! There I wrote in cute primary school student-letters my name and address. The lovely lady, who found the book was so worried, that I lost my cookbook and wished me all the best for making all these meals. : ) How kind of her!! She couldn't know that I was 20 years older than she thought. That's when I started to write notes on or in the book for more fun and gave the whole permission to take this book if the person liked it. No need to bring it to the lost and found or send it back to me.
 
I know in Covid-times, you might put the book into a sealed bag and add an extra note on the cover: I touched this book with washed and sanitized hands only and even sanitized the book itself. This book is totally safe. Consider what's important to you and do it YOUR way!

It doesn't have to be a book! Leave some money in an envelope and stick it to a vending machine with a note. Leave money at different places with cool notes and wish the person who finds it just the best of the bestest.

Pay for the person 5 positions back in the lane in the coffeebar... pay for someone’s lunch.

What never gets old: Write a message, just a message. Something encouraging, something uplifting. It could be THE sign this person needs to read right now. It could make someone’s day! Choose something you like yourself! I'm sure, that your preparations for this action will bring a smile to your face already, while you imagine how delighted the person will be, who finds the «present-thing-message-money-.....»

Post your random act of kindness on your social media platforms, not to brag, but to inspire people to do something too. Send me your pictures with your story, tag me with @joyismycompass and @ronjasakata and I'll post it on my instagram feed. How cool to look at all these wonderful ideas to brighten up the day of a stranger (or someone you know).

Thank you for doing this! Thank you for making the world a better place. You make a difference. This is powerful stuff! Every smile and good word makes a difference. YOU being YOU makes a difference.

My Joyometer this week is full of boat magic. For several years I always put a cruise ship of Lake Lucerne onto my vision board, because I love to do the big 6 hour long roundtrip with one of the majestic old (they are mostly over 100 years old!) boats. 3 or 4 years ago I was on the lake, at the first class deck, working on my laptop and other laptop entrepreneurs were working too, when the captain himself approached us to say hello. (They always take turn in steering the ship, while being on the boat for 6 hours) His name is Franz Mathis and he found it interesting, that we are location independent. He realized, that there were not enough power sockets for all our devices, so he got us a multiple plug from somewhere. We chatted for quite a long time. He told us about his travelling and that he works for the Paralympics ski team of Canada and so on... What a lovely, kind and interesting man. We became instagram friends and stayed in touch over the years.

Last Saturday was the last cruise of Franz as a captain. He got retired now. It was soooo special: Every crossing ship was tooting its horn, the passengers on the other ships were waving. Some boat-stops organized a little concert with the alphorn and the swiss accordion. On top of that it was a beautiful day and I was on the ship with Mika, my girl. I am so grateful for the appreciation Franz got for his 34 years of service as a captain. I am grateful to know him and it was a great honor to be invited on his last cruise. Check the Joyometer for everything else I loved this week and watch the little insta-stories-video for seeing my boat-bliss-visionboard-moments.

What did you like best in your last week? What are you grateful for? Who inspired you and why? You can guess who I put on my Joyometer, yep, captain Franz. : ) What are you reading or listening? I'm in the middle of James Cordon's memoir on audible. He reads his book himself and it's soooo funny, I often laugh out loud and confuse the people around me on the street. Do you know James? The guy who does the carpool karaoke with all the famous girls and boys? Like Michelle Obama (I love her so much) or Lady Gaga or ... just anyone cool and famous. Well he wasn't famous at all as a kid and really working on getting on these stages. I can highly recommend this audiobook. : )

But hey, this is about you, the time you take for filling out the Joyometer is for YOU. You don't have to show it to anybody, but I promise you, that you'll feel a difference if you install this habit of a weekly appreciative review in your life! Yes, it's that simple. All these mindset-tools are not complicated at all… it's just that you have to DO them to benefit from them. Ok? Try it! The download link is HERE.

If you want to use the Joy Cards for the easy easy random act of kindness by just taping these wherever you go: THANK YOU for spreading the word. Sign up for the free 21day-Joy-Challenge. You'll learn loads of little tricks and tipps for your life and you'll create more joy for yourself every day!

Thank you for spending time with me and thank you for spending time with YOU!! You are the most important person in your life, so take good care of yourself.

Happy day from Switzerland