Be Inspired

When I look back at my life I realise that the times that have been most special are the instances when others have given of their time or energy and on occasions their money, food or other material resources to help brighten up my day or positively influence my life. These things are often viewed as abnormal occurrences because some parts of society tell us that people just do not behave this way in the UK. The truth is that many people are intrinsically good and want to help others.

What surprises me most, although again I can't explain why it surprises me, is that it is often the little things that make the biggest difference. The fact that my next door neighbour is willing to cook a little extra food to share with someone else, the willingness of a perfect stranger to say good morning when others might walk past or a female at the checkout who gives up her place in the queue at Sainsbury's because she can see that I am in a hurry to get to work.

This section of the Friends & Money site is dedicated to stories of inspiration, not because they are all particularly grand examples of acts of kindness, but precisely because they are stories of mundane everyday occurrences that people have chosen to engage in to help make someone else's life that much easier.

Ethos

As a Christian I know that Jesus is interested in people, reading the Bible shows us that. Jesus frequently spent time with those that others would regularly shun not because he was a conniving power hungry revolutionary, but for the simple fact that he loved them, first and foremost.

It is also true that people from all walks of life engage in everyday acts of kindness that specifically seek to enrich and improve others lives. The main emphasis of this section of the Friends & Money site is to actively encourage UK citizens to do something to make others lives a little bit easier and to enable others to feel like a real human being, no matter what their age, gender, sexuality, race, faith, political disposition, weight or disability.

What this section of Friends & Money isn't;

• A place where do gooders can brag about what they do. Do gooders are often self absorbed individuals, but we actively ask you to put others first rather than do something that makes you look better. We are looking for stories of ordinary people, doing ordinary things, which make a positive difference to another person's life.

What this section of Friends & Money is;

• A place to share ideas about acts of kindness that you could do in your own street, community, workplace, village, town or city.

• A place to be inspired about acts of kindness that others have done and by reading these be prompted to engage in your own act of kindness towards others.

Why Bother?

The truth is that we all become self absorbed in our personal circumstances and this is completely understandable given the pressures of life and the need to provide an income, support a family or just simply make it through another day. It is easy to forget that others can be affected by our actions in either a positive or negative way. You do not have to be the perfect person to engage in an act of kindness to other people, in fact the most powerful acts often come from individuals who we would least expect, like the low income family who go out of their way to cook a meal for their investment banker neighbours or the hoodie wearing teenager who smiles and says morning as you walk into work.

So what are you waiting for, why not do something a little different today and brighten someone's life?

Hot Tips

• Do something different.
• Don't remind the person of what you have done.
• Don't make a grand gesture about what you are doing.
• Keep it low key and don't brag about it.
• Do your act of kindness willingly.
• Don't expect anything in return.

Ideas

• Paint a park bench
• Cook a meal for a friend or someone you don't know well.
• Pay the grocery bill of the person behind you at the supermarket till.
• Smile at someone in the street and wish them good morning.
• Buy a pint for a random stranger at the bar.
• Buy a coffee for someone at your local coffee house, or cafe.
• Buy a bag of chips for the person behind you in your local chippy.
• Interested in changing someone's life? Then find out more about TwentyTwenty. They run a range of exciting projects to help young people achieve a bright future.

• Suggest an idea for an act of kindness and we'll add it here, please email us at kindness@friendsandmoney.co.uk, we'd love to hear from you.

Recent Stories Of Acts Of Kindness

Real Life Story 1 - Charlie

We have a friend who has three children and she's going through a very difficult divorce. She lives on the very outskirts of the city and can quite easily feel out of it, especially this month in particular, she didn't even have even enough money for petrol to even get to the centre of the city for a gathering we were putting on. So we took the gathering to her house, with some flowers and put money in her bank account. She felt loved - Charlie, Bristol

Real Life Story 2 - Ben

One day I was walking home from school when some random old lady stopped me and asked me if I would help her across the road (sounds a bit cliched right?). So after about 5 seconds of thinking of ways to get out of it (I know, it sounds bad) I decided to just help her, even though she said "Oh no, you don't have to love." when I looked at her a bit confused. I still helped her over, and felt great about it. :) - Ben, Derby

Share Your Stories

Why not share your own story of an act of kindness or what it felt like to be on the receiving end of an act of kindness that someone did for you? We would love to share your story with visitors to our site. Email us at mystory@friendsandmoney.co.uk Please note that we'll only post your first name and the location that you live in for example i.e James from London.