Has a simple act of kindness impacted you? A chance encounter in a grocery store helped Oriana Galardi-Este transform her personal pain into the joy that comes from helping another person. That eureka moment led her to create The Kindness Calendar. What is The Kindness Calendar? Oriana explains that "we are what we repeatedly do" and her creation offers people a concrete, simple way to make kindness a habit and therefore a part of everyday life.
I love the picture she paints about an average persons day (sounds familiar to me):
"Imagine this: you wake up in the morning, get dressed, make coffee... but instead of leaving the house feeling frazzled with your long to-do list running through your head, you walk over to your Kindness Calendar hanging in the kitchen and pick your kindness mission for the day. In one fell swoop you feel re-centered, filled with purpose and intent, and excited at the prospect of helping another AND getting an endorphin release. This is the power of the Kindness Calendar, which gives you a new Act of Kindness to commit daily. "
Better yet, what if your child or spouse joins you daily to pick the kindness mission? Picture how at the end of the day you can discuss how you each met your goal and spread kindness during your day. It's such a simple, yet beautiful way to make your family, and our world, more joyful and giving.
"Imagine this: you wake up in the morning, get dressed, make coffee... but instead of leaving the house feeling frazzled with your long to-do list running through your head, you walk over to your Kindness Calendar hanging in the kitchen and pick your kindness mission for the day. In one fell swoop you feel re-centered, filled with purpose and intent, and excited at the prospect of helping another AND getting an endorphin release. This is the power of the Kindness Calendar, which gives you a new Act of Kindness to commit daily. "
Better yet, what if your child or spouse joins you daily to pick the kindness mission? Picture how at the end of the day you can discuss how you each met your goal and spread kindness during your day. It's such a simple, yet beautiful way to make your family, and our world, more joyful and giving.
What exactly is The Kindness Calendar? It's a beautifully handcrafted wall-hanging calendar made of fabric and wood, that features 30 mini burlap envelopes each made to house laminated act of kindness cards. It looks at home in any home, as it's own work of art. The calendar is made by hand in the USA, is of exceptional quality and built to last with a lifetime guarantee. The calendars can easily be folded up and stored when not in use. (In fact, Oriana encourages Kindness Calendar owners to only have it out when it is consciously being used so as to not become desensitized to it. What a novel concept but so true!) It can be used anytime of year by any group of people, from families to co-workers, as kindness has no season and used as often as desired, as the variety of cards are limitless.
You might be wondering - what's on the cards? How does it actually work? I love that Oriana realized that the calendar works best when tailored to the needs of the user, so she has created a multitude of Kindness packs to suit each type of calendar owner. There are packs aimed at kids 3-5, 6-11, or 12-17, as well as packs for couples, packs to increase self-love or bravery, and packs specifically designed for employees and employers to build working relationships based on respect and integrity. And once you've committed the 30 acts in 30 days, you'll most likely be feeling so good you'll be hungry for more and want to keep up the positive habit. Oriana has thought ahead and gives you myriad of choices: "you can buy another Kindness Pack for a brand new set of acts; you can re-use your current Kindness Pack; you can invest in different packs and then mix and match. For example you could mix the Adult pack with the Bravery pack to allow yourself to focus on serving others AND simultaneously increasing your courage. Another example would be to mix the Couple pack with the Self-Love pack to allow you and your love to grow in intimacy while simultaneously increasing your respective self-love. Get creative and have fun!"
Here's Oriana explaining The Kindness Calendar - you can't help but feel happier having watched her!
Want to get a Kindness Calendar in your life, at home, in your classroom, or at your workplace? Well that's why I'm writing today. Oriana needs your help. Her mission is driven by the desire to see kindness spread, and she's asking for your kindness in getting this project off the ground over at IndieGoGo. They can't start production unless the project is funded - and there are mere days left until the deadline. More details about how crowdfunding works can be found here on The Kindness Calendar project page, including information on what rewards you can get for various pledge levels, like soft tees, the gorgeous Kindness manifesto artwork, and extra Kindness card packs. Oriana puts it so well when she notes, "I think it's safe to say that most of us are feeling incredibly disillusioned by the current state of the world, and feel powerless to help. So my main incentive in getting the Kindness Calendar out into the world is to empower people to affect change by equipping them with a truly potent yet affordable and simple tool."
FCC Disclosure for bloggers: I received payment in exchange for this blog post. The post is written by me, and contains my own opinions.
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