The #AmericaIsKind Challenge: Day 16

The purpose of the #AmericaIsKind Challenge is simple:

To remind us all that America is GREAT when Americans are KIND.

After this divisive election, our country needs to heal. We need to remember we are so much more than blocks of red and blue. We are people who care about each other. And while we can not agree on many topics, we can agree that our country needs more kindness and more gratitude.

If change is going to begin, it has to begin with each one of us.

Enter the #AmericaIsKind Challenge:

We want to spread kindness, gratitude and acts of good while highlighting the work of great charities. We want to start a wildfire of kindness and positivity online and in everyday life. If you are tired of negativity, strife & division—especially on social media—

Take the #AmericaIsKind Challenge today!

America Is Kind

Here’s How:

–On social media SHARE an ACT OF KINDNESS someone has done for you, or that you have done for someone, with #AmericaIsKind

–TAG 3-5 friends to take the #AmericaIsKind Challenge

–PAY IT FORWARD by doing a random act of kindness for a stranger

–Take the full 30-day #AmericaIsKind Challenge, with daily gratitudes, acts of goods, and our highlighted charities HERE. You can jump in or out any day…whenever you find the challenge is the perfect time to begin.

Today is Day 16 of the 30-Day #AmericaIsKind Challenge:

Our theme today is HOME, and our Charity of the Day is : The Compassion Collective/Together Rising

“The Compassion Collective was born as a response the Syrian refugee crisis, the worst humanitarian emergency the world has seen since World War II. We knew our action in the face of this crisis would define us. We want to be remembered as the generation that chose Love over Fear. We’ve raised over $2 million together, and this money has been and will continue to be used to work with refugees and also to care for homeless youth in the United States. Love is not Either/Or. Love is AND/ BOTH.”

Gratitude: “I am grateful for my home.”

This year I became friends with an amazing woman who happens to be experiencing homelessness. I met her through a City Silence meditation group at the park. Since we both showed up most mornings all summer to sit in silence, it followed that we would talk after the hour was up. I didn’t know she did not have a place to live for a month or so, and when I found out I was aghast. She blew up all my former ideas of what a “homeless” person was like–and in the process exposed two things in my life. First, the unknown and ugly prejudices I had about those experiencing homelessness. Second, intense gratitude for a place to call home. Meeting this woman changed me because she embodied the epidemic of homelessness we have in our country and the world–especially the world. All we need do is look at the Syrian refugee crisis to understand the importance of home.

Good: Get to know a person who is experiencing homelessness: as a friend, not as a savior. As my friend told me, “These people that come down to the park to feed us and leave without saying a word, thinking they did their good deed for the week–they are the ones who need food. Spiritual food. The kind you can’t give out in a soup kitchen. It’s the people who talk to us, who see us, that truly feed us.”

Good: Invite a foreign exchange student or person who does not have family close to come to your home for Thanksgiving Dinner

Good: Donate furniture, clothing or household items to Habitat for Humanity. They pick up! Visit DonationTown.org for more information. Or….

Good: Gather a group of volunteers to help build affordable housing with Habitat for Humanity

Good: Consider donating to our charity of the day The Compassion Collective/Together Rising to live your love for children and adults around the globe. As Glennon Doyle Melton, founder of Together Rising says: “There is no such thing as other people’s children.“

Need more kindness & gratitude ideas? We have them.Find the other days of The #AmericaIsKind Challenge HERE.

During the year I explored 30 religions, I found KINDNESS and GRATITUDE present in every faith. In spite of our many differences, these qualities unite us.

Later, through a yearlong battle with clinical depression, I discovered that practicing KINDNESS and GRATITUDE are two of the scientifically-proven ways to defeat depression and increase happiness.

Coincidence? I don’t think so!

I came up with the #AmericaIsKind Challenge as a way to inspire the practice of kindness and gratitude, unite Americans with the things we have in common, help others who may be struggling with depression, and to remind us all America is kind because Americans are kind.