40 small acts of kindness ideas, most take five minutes

1. 1. Text someone you haven't spoken to in a year.
2. 2. Tell a friend what you like about them.
3. 3. Send a photo of a memory you share.
4. 4. Ask someone how the thing they were worried about went.
5. 5. Thank a teacher you still think about.
6. 6. Drop off food for someone having a rough week.
7. 7. Offer to do one errand for a parent.
8. 8. Remember a birthday without the reminder.
9. 9. Listen to the whole story before you say anything.
10. 10. Write a card and post it.

11. 11. Hold a door or a lift.
12. 12. Let someone go ahead of you in a queue.
13. 13. Learn the name of the person who cleans your building.
14. 14. Give up your seat.
15. 15. Leave a kind review for a small shop.
16. 16. Tell a shop when someone there served you well.
17. 17. Return a shopping trolley that isn't yours.
18. 18. Say thank you to a bus driver.
19. 19. Help someone carry a pram up the stairs.
20. 20. Pay for the next person's coffee.

21. 21. Pick up one piece of litter.
22. 22. Leave a book on a community shelf.
23. 23. Water a neighbour's plants while they're away.
24. 24. Say hello to someone on your floor.
25. 25. Clear your tray at the food court.
26. 26. Give away something good that you don't use.
27. 27. Donate blood, if you can.
28. 28. Put out water for birds or strays.
29. 29. Share a tool or a ladder.
30. 30. Leave a thank-you note for the delivery rider.

31. 31. Say no to something you'd resent.
32. 32. Let a mistake be a mistake.
33. 33. Eat lunch away from your screen.
34. 34. Forgive yourself for a late reply.
35. 35. Buy the slightly nicer version, once.
36. 36. Go to bed when you're tired.
37. 37. Stop reading something that makes you feel bad.
38. 38. Talk to yourself the way you'd talk to a friend.
39. 39. Take the long way home if you feel like it.
40. 40. Cancel one plan you only made out of guilt.

Pick one and do it. A tick is only for you. Nobody sees it, and no one's counting.

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