One of the best ways to create more happiness and joy in your own life is to show kindness and compassion toward others.  You don’t have to take my word for it; just take a few weeks and experiment on yourself.

There are many ways to show kindness in this world, so you can also come up with many more ideas of your own.

Here’s a few just to get you started:

• Offer to return a shopping cart for someone loading a lot of bags into their car.
• Leave a copy of your magazine/newspaper/article in a doctor’s office or in the break room at work for someone else to enjoy.
• When you go for a walk, take a small bag with you and pick up trash you see along the way.
• Smile at someone.
• Choose to allow a car to enter in front of you when you notice they are waiting.
• Did you receive excellent service from someone?  Tell their manager.  You might also consider writing a positive review for them online or sending a thank you note to the company so they get recognition.
• Give compliments. Look for opportunities to compliment others.  Don’t just think it, say it.
• Create a “top 10 list” of things you love about your partner and give it to them.
• Send a special “for no reason” text or email to your partner or to a good friend.  “Just thinking of you…”
• Do you have a nice item that you no longer need?  Donate it to an organization or put it on Facebook or Craigslist for free.
• Volunteer.
• If you walk past a car at a parking meter about to expire, put a few coins in yourself to spare them the ticket.
• Create encouraging and positive sticky notes and put them in the common areas at work to help inspire co-workers.
• Offer to watch a neighbors’ child for a short time so that parent can get a break or run an errand.
• Take canned goods to a homeless shelter at times throughout the year other than the holidays.  Buy an extra few cans/bags of pet food and take them to your nearest animal shelter.

Kimberly Atwood is a licensed psychotherapist and certified sex therapist in private practice in Princeton, NJ and Doylestown, PA.  She specializes in anxiety, sexual health, intimacy and relationship issues.  For more information, please check out her website at kimatwood.com