A Random Acts of Kindness Challenge - your participation is requested!

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Random Acts of Kindness Challenge needs your stories!

When it comes to kindness, it’s a win-win situation. The person doing the act of kindness, the receiver of the act of kindness, and the person witnessing this act of kindness each get a shot of potent and healthy good feelings.

Within our bodies, acts of kindness large and small create elevated levels of dopamine, and the “love hormone” oxytocin in all participants and according to Dr. David Hamilton,

“On a biochemical level, it is believed that the good feeling we get is due to elevated levels of the brain’s natural versions of morphine and heroin, which we know as endogenous opioids. They cause elevated levels of dopamine in the brain and so we get a natural high, often referred to as ‘Helper’s High’.”

If you’re interested in the science of oxytocin, he also explains -

“Oxytocin causes the release of a chemical called nitric oxide in blood vessels, which dilates (expands) the blood vessels. This reduces blood pressure and therefore oxytocin is known as a ‘cardioprotective’ hormone because it protects the heart (by lowering blood pressure).”

Furthermore, kindness keeps us younger due to the resulting decreased levels of inflammation and Free Radicals in our bloodstream.

Pretty amazing and I don’t know about you, but I always like my levels of dopamine and oxytocin elevated!

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Plus, let’s acknowledge that this elevation of endorphins or increase in “feel good” hormones is happening to everyone involved in a random act of kindness process. This includes the recipient of the kindness, the person who is being kind and all the people who observe or learn about the act of kindness, and it lasts well after the deed is done.

At the very least, it is positive information that we can share. Everyone can benefit, even if they feel that they have never been a recipient of an act of kindness or been the person who decides to act kindly without expecting anything in return for their actions.

Throw Kindness Around Like Confetti!
And why not, it's free, easy and has a high return on investment.

So, in the interest of spreading around some of that “feel-good” juice, @rebeccaryan and I are putting out a call for stories about random acts of kindness so that all of us here in Steemitland can hear more good life stories and experience the benefits.

For this random acts of kindness challenge, the idea is to write up an experience that:

  • tells about an act of kindness that you were a part of,
  • or saw,
  • or, even heard of.

It doesn’t have to be involved or extravagant. Just catch kindness/compassion in the works and tell us about what you witnessed, what you did, how it made you feel and/or what the results of the kind actions were, if you know the outcome. Just share the love with all of us.

Maybe you saw something 10 minutes ago, or maybe you have a good story from 3 years ago, or maybe it’s a really good story of a random act of kindness that a friend told to you, all of it is welcome as long as it will make us all feel good.

Once you’ve posted, either or both @rebeccaryan and I will resteem your post and will also up-vote it. The up-vote percentage we use will be based on the story telling, the effort put in to you post and the quality of the writing and most of all, how it makes us feel.

Would you like to participate?

  1. In 200 words or less write an account of a random act of kindness you’ve witnessed or been a part of.
  2. The words “Acts of Kindness Challenge” should be included in your title
  3. At the bottom of your post use the following 4 hashtags, 5th is your own
    #actsofkindnesschallenge #kindness-trail #story #life
  4. Optional: DM @rebeccaryan and @natureofbeing in steemitchat to alert us about your post. We’ll find it via hashtags, but with an alert our response will be faster and it’s less likely that we’ll miss your post.

Thanks for spreading the love and telling your stories, we look forward to reading them and feeling good, along with you!

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Decided to share my old story, I hope you'll enjoy it :)

I have enjoyed your story very much @sunmaker!
I have upvoted your challenge post entry and your comment here.
Thanks for helping us to feel good. Well done!

I'm flattered

I'm so glad you did, I definitely enjoyed it thoroughly :-), upvoted and resteemed.

Hi @natureofbeing I've published an article about you, check it out, if you can, thanks.

26 Best Steemit Bloggers Of The Day To Follow 31st July 2017

https://steemit.com/advice/@jzeek/26-best-steemit-bloggers-of-the-day-to-follow-31st-july-2017

cool, thanks @jzeek! always great to be included in this kind of thing, I appreciate it!

Hello @natureofbeing
The acts of kindness challenge is a superb idea. After reading some of the amazing stories and with a little push from @rebeccaryan i was inspired to share an act of kindness story of my own. I am new to the platform and am having trouble leaving a link. The story is titled Acts Of Kindness Challenge: What would michael do? If you get a chance to read i hope you enjoy, thank you for the idea and opportunity. @steem-d-anlovnit

Well done @steem-d-anlovnit!
I have resteemed too.

I posted another story about this topic. I wanted to share this story just to show that even just small acts of kindness can have big impacts and leave lasting impressions! Just think if everyone in the world thought and acted this way! Good on you guys for coming up with this idea, it's liable to spark some much needed love around this ol' world!
https://steemit.com/actsofkindnesschallenge/@bluelightbandit/acts-of-kindness-challenge-entry-2-200-words-or-less

That is the intent! We thought that we'd start with our own global Steemit community and just see what happens.
I happen to think that it is really cool. ;)
Thanks for sharing fantastic stories with us @bluelightbandit!

Wow, 200 words or less was harder for me than I thought lol! Here is my first story with the video attached. I have a couple of more that really stick out in my mind that I would like to share if it's okay?
https://steemit.com/actsofkindnesschallenge/@bluelightbandit/acts-of-kindness-challenge-entry-1-200-words-or-less

Great job @bluelightbandit! I have upvoted this comment too.

I missed this post innitially but went back to look it up when I realized that you were resteeming so many awesome posts for an excellent reason, Just for the sake of spreading the love even more and if you are interested here is two very kind posts from my side:
https://steemit.com/life/@breezin/kindness-another-way-to-touch-a-stranger-without-ending-up-in-jail
and
https://steemit.com/life/@breezin/where-is-technology-leading-us
I hope that I will be able to post an entry to your competition before the deadline. Have fun !

One Love

Thanks for submitting 2 stories @breezin. I read both and upvoted this comment. @natureofbeing and I have created this initiative to start a random act of kindness tag category on Steemit's blockchain. If you read this post, it has specific criteria to follow in terms of the 4 tags we would like you to use. We didn't put a time-line on this challenge, so if you want to write another piece that fits the criteria of the actual challenge I'd be happy to upvote more content from you. :)

I think that this is a wonderfull innitiative from the two of you, I will go have a read and support your tags where applicable.

one love!

Thank you very much @breezin! I look forward to reading an entry from you. @natureofbeing and I are trying to establish actsofkindnesschallenge as a regular tag on Steemit which will eventually occur with regular use from all of us. :)

I think that it is stunning!!

Will do! What a touching initiative! Thank you @natureofbeing ! :D

Goodie, can't wait to read yours!!!

You sure will, pretty soon! I have something in mind already, but I need to give it the time it deserves! But soon, soon :D

Do let us know when you get your entry posted @meanmommy33. We don't want to miss it and you can copy the link here as a comment to @natureofbeing's post. This way, she'll be notified and I'll make a point to check back in, too. :)

Hey again @rebeccaryan and @natureofbeing ! Here's is my entry :) I don't think I'll have to DM you, if you reply here :) Simple, but powerful -hope you like it!
https://steemit.com/actsofkindnesschallenge/@meanmommy33/acts-of-kindness-challenge-in-venice-the-city-of-my-heart

Great @rebeccaryan! Will do later today or tomorrow, stay tuned :D Thank you :)

I just wrote my entry for this amazing challenge! It's such a great way to motivate kindness in a different way!
Here is the link as requested.

https://steemit.com/actsofkindnesschallenge/@poeticsnake/random-acts-of-kindness-challenge-the-day-i-stopped

wonderful, thank you! I'll take a look...

Such a wonderful idea, I can't wait to see the contributions, and to contribute <3 <3 <3 <3 Hugs!!! xoxooxooxooxo

This is a good challenge , you have choosen a good topic bro , being kindness mean too much , well done bro just keep it up @natureofbeing

Thank you @fbcnews, I hope you will participate!!

I hope you'll decide to enter this challenge @fcbnews, with an act of kindness story. I'd love to hear about a story all the way from Barcelona!

I feel like I'm clogging the thread with my three entries but I just felt the need to share some of these stories lol. It's really a good thing y'all put a 200 word limit on it because I would have went buck wild and bored you to death! It's just some of my stories have so much more details in them, it's hard to sum it up in a few paragraphs lol. Anyways, if anyone has any questions about this story or anything else, please don't hesitate to ask, I won't mind!
https://steemit.com/actsofkindnesschallenge/@bluelightbandit/acts-of-kindness-challenge-entry-3-200-words-or-less

I love this. I will never forget my act of kindness and look forward to my next one. Thank you both for coming up with this challenge

Oh, I hope you will enter with a post of your own telling us all about the act of kindness that you will never forget @pixiehunter.

Indeed I did enter a few minutes ago :-) Maybe I tagged it wrong?

I found it @pixiehunter!
Good Job!!!
I have upvoted your comment at 100% of my power too.
Way to go, my friend!!!

Thank you kindly :-)

I like hearing how the act has stayed with you even years later! Thank you so much for participating and posting your story, it's a good one...upvoted and resteemed :-)

Thank you, and yes it still makes me smile. Almost had tears rolling while I was typing it. That kind of Act touches a person deep within their soul. Thank you for upvote and resteem @natureofbeing and @rebeccaryan

@natureofbeing thank you so much for hosting this challenge with @rebeccaryan. I am loving reading all of these uplifting and encouraging posts! Here's mine! https://steemit.com/actsofkindnesschallenge/@jaymorebeet/acts-of-kindness-challenge-friends-to-the-rescue

Great. I hope by people sharing their stories will inspire some other to spread the love

I just learnt about this challenge today, and did write similar thing just few days ago, feel free to check it : https://steemit.com/life/@rahmanovic/smile-small-act-of-kindness

Ohhh, I really like this idea! Ironically, I made a video of an unboxing that was a random act of kindness, can I use that in with my post? Many thanks for your time!

Why yes you can!
I have resteemed your post. ;)