365 Days of Kindness
From 2011 to 2016 I was pleased to be able to have done 365days where I did a kind deed every day(& 366days in the leap year)! In 2017 I am doing it again...my aim is to inspire others into action by showing them how simple it is to do kind acts for others. I do this by doing a kind act a day. I do this by sharing my story and some ideas for living a kinder life. Kinder for others, kinder for ourselves, kinder for the planet. Welcome to 365days of kindness!
Monday, September 2, 2019
Sustainable September 2019
Thursday, August 29, 2019
A new kindness idea... for books!
I have been reading prolifically. I’ve been purchasing about 10 books a fortnight from charity shops. I must admit that most of them are Romance. I like to think part of it is research. I love writing and have for years and have been reading and writing romance for years. None of it is publishable yet, but I love to read them to see what types of stories I want to write. What I enjoy and how different people tell their stories. I am blessed to have a few family friends who are prolific and published Romance authors and Life lit writers. They are very successful at it too.
So I read Romance stories a lot. Which leads me to think about what to do with these books once I’ve finished with them.
In the past I’ve been giving those books to a friend for her to read. My friend just got herself a new job and is moving to London in a few days! ðŸ˜ðŸ˜ðŸ˜ I’m going to miss that girl.
But it leaves me with a question as what to do now with my large collection of romance novels. Not many other people have the same taste in books as I do. So finding someone else to read them has been harder.
I no longer feel the need to keep all the ones I’ve read however I have kept a couple that I really enjoyed as inspiration.
So, I decided to do something with a lot of the books I’ve been getting. I’m leaving them for people on public transport. Like this one.
“I’m in no mood for love” by Rachel Gibson was a sweet story of a woman getting over the heat break of discovering her fiancé in bed with another person, the washing machine repair man.
I liked this book because it was set over a longer period of time. Not a couple days like a lot of the other books I have read recently. It is still a fast paced story with the two protagonists being writers in different genres. And it’s a lot of fun. It’s kind of a sweet romance rather than hot an steamy.
I left a little note for someone to find. I was visiting a friend in London. For me to get from Reading to London it takes a 30 minute train ride to get there ( I don’t know why I don’t go to Reading more often).
So fun to leave the book on the train on my way to London. :)
I must admit I did wait till almost everyone else was off the train to leave it there.
Here is a great kindness idea for you to enjoy!
Love Daena x
Monday, April 15, 2019
The cookie...
It’s not good enough. Not for me, not for her, not for community and not for our world.
Build something better, folks. Build a better world.”
Kindness helps build community and connects us to each other. It is both profoundly powerful and fairly simple. If it is safe to do so, always be kind. When it’s hard to do it, be kind. When it is easy to do it, be kind. But challenge yourself, as I will challenge myself to go beyond accommodating others and work towards gentle kindness.
*Everyone wants love and kindness. I also know not everyone you meet will be kind to you. Love bravely and act kindly but use both your intuition and your head to make cleverly kind choices. You can be safe and still challenge your own social predispositions towards other peoples, cultures, religions, sexes, creeds, abilities and genders so you can make wise and kind choices! Good luck! 😘❤️
Sunday, March 31, 2019
That little voice...
I’ve been away for the last two weeks for work. It’s been busy and crazy and messy. But I’ve met some great people and gotten to know others better.
I’ve been able to stay in some amazing houses and go to new places. Work is never boring for me.
However it has meant that I’ve been a bit off my game when it came to posting anything for two weeks. I decided to give myself a little break instead of pushing myself.
How could I profess kindness and not look after myself? It would be silly.
So I’m doing my best to be kind to myself. But it’s hard not to feel guilty.
Do you ever feel guilty when you don’t do something you said you would do? Even if you had to so you could care for yourself? I do. Often.
I think that it comes to some old beliefs about myself that no longer serve me. I often struggle with those deep seated beliefs that say “I’m not good enough” or that “I’m not worthy” of anything. It’s hard to confront that part of me. It comes to a head any time I don’t do what I say I’m going to do.
I don’t always know how to combat it. I intellectually know that I’m worthy of friendship and love. However, that little voice can be insidious.
Sometimes I really struggle with being good enough to share anything, let alone share kindness. What does this little white girl originally from Perth, Australia really know about kindness? Nothing. I’ve not done anything so great. Some of the things I’ve done no body remembers (including me) so what makes me think I’m the person to share these things? I don’t know. So I struggle.
Then I ask myself... how can I be kinder to me? If I’m putting myself down all the time, how can I be Kinder? How can I do what I do for others, but for me?
First I have to change my thinking.
Every time I hear my internal voice telling me I’m not good enough. I quietly listen and then tell it, “thank you for adding in your 2 cents worth but you, YOU are amazing.” I have to be brave.
I must admit this isn’t always successful. Those negative words are something I’ve told myself on the inside for years. So dealing with them is hard. Rebelling is hard. So I don’t. That little voice that tells me I’m not good enough also tells me it’s too hard to be kind to others let alone yourself. So I do what I can to change my thinking. I can be braver.
I listen to meditations that encourage a positive mindset and encourage kindness to the self. They work. But not all the time. When that voice is really loud I need more than affirmations.
I listen to Podcasts like “The Mindful Kind” which gives helpful tips and tricks about how to deal with that voice inside you. It helps me have a healthy outlook. The podcast offers strategies to be kind to yourself too. But you have to put those strategies in action and when I have little energy, it can be hard.
So, I watch inspiring movies that motivate me to be kinder like “Pay It Forward”. I watch “Hallmark” movies because they make me feel good so I can be nicer to myself because I feel better on the inside. Whilst some might find them a bit too mushie, I really enjoy them. I know comedy is also a great source of changing your mood (just a reminder to myself to stay away from dark humour or otherwise it feeds into my negativity).
I think these little tricks are like giving my inside self a little mental cuddle. Like you would to a friend who is struggling. Embracing the darkness to reveal the light.
When it comes to mindset with me it really comes down to providing myself with strategies that can subtly fool my inside voice into believing differently.
I’m not perfect. I need to forgive myself for that. There are ways I’m working on me being a little bit better. A little bit kinder to myself. A little bit kinder to the world.
Nobody is perfect. And the expectation that you need to be the exception to the rule is dangerous.
It’s a struggle to embrace that part of you that always criticises you and judges your choices and actions. It needs love and kindness too!
All you need to do is be Kind and Brave and you can do anything.
Sending love to you all,
Love Daena
Sunday, March 17, 2019
A Note after New Zealand’s Massacre
On this blog we promote Kindness and love. Sometimes it is hard to love those different from ourselves.
Sometimes it’s hard to even understand those differences. But we need to do our best to embrace them because kindness in the face of difference is where the greatest capacity for healthy change occurs. In ourselves and in others.
My heart breaks for New Zealand. It hurts even more because I know someone from my home country perpetrated the crime, as though he speaks for me. He does not.
I’m asking everyone this week to do a Random Act of Kindness and fill the world with Love. If you want to please share your act of kindness with your friends and family. Kindness breeds kindness. So the more who share the kindness the more kindness is shared.
This week we need more because love eradicates fear. And we have enough fear in our world so let’s turn the tables and bring another person light and love.
I hope this finds you all well.
Love Daena XX
Monday, March 11, 2019
40 days of Kindness -Lent Kindness
Day 3:
Well that’s all for now.