For today’s piece, I wanted to just share a fun thing I started doing this year which is keeping a kindness journal.
The idea of a kindness journal is a central home for all the kindness and appreciation that anyone has ever showed you. Whenever you’re in doubt or needing a pick me up, it’s an amazing way to kick-start warm, fuzzy feelings naturally. Here’s some inspiration below for how you can get started.
One additional augmentation I like is to also record the nice things you say or think about other people (and normalize just texting them out of the blue saying it!). Compliments are one of the few things that are infinite energy machines. It’s free to think of and give, and each one generates so much equivalent energy in happiness. Why not help put some more joy in the world?
Curious if anyone else has similar methods or other ideas on how to do this!
This is the 43rd installment in my experiment of publishing raw, lightly edited mini-essays every day towards achieving 100 public pieces. Check out the rationale and the full list here or view my evergreen, longer pieces on my website.
I love this post! I have a page in a doc where I collect screenshots of positive reinforcement I've received on my GitHub PRs 😂
Also love the idea from your tweet about normalizing sharing fond memories with people you haven't spoken to in a while 🙌