January 5 - Random Acts of Kindness planning session

In December I discovered a Meetup group that actively goes out to do Random Acts of Kindness (RAK).  Here is a link to their website:

http://www.meetup.com/Random-Acts-of-Kindness-in-San-Diego/

Last night I meet with the organizer of the group (Kim) and a couple of her friends (Maricela and David) to plan events for 2014.

It sounds counter intuitive to plan to do Random things but opportunities don't always show up in our lives when we are paying attention.  They are probably always there but we don't always notice them.

It is challenging to create an event where RAK can occur.  In my definition of RAK volunteering doesn't really count.  Many people volunteer at food banks, fundraisers and senior homes but there is nothing Random about the things to be accomplished.

An interesting observation that came out of the meeting is that creating an opportunity for others to do a RAK may be as powerful as doing a RAK ourselves.

What I mean by that is that the act of doing a RAK feels great to many people.  For many of us that are capable of doing all of the things that we need to do every day the chance to step up for someone else can make our day.

As I mentioned above it is a challenge to create Random activities but the seeds of a few interesting ideas were planted.  One idea was to build a large canvas with a mobile support so we can setup in a park or on the boardwalk and let people randomly paint whatever they want.  Another idea was to give people a chance to feel what it would be like to be a drummer in a band.

One event that the group had last year before I joined was to offer free hugs.  This is way outside my comfort zone but isn't that the point of doing a new First every day for a year.