Seeds of Kindness - Positivity Matters | Hope to Flourish | H.A.P.P.Y. L.I.F.E.

www.PositivityMatters.org/kindness

Acts of kindness sow seeds of hope and happiness!

Above on the left: Nick Hernandez in front of a pillar sculpture by Eddie Dominguez | Above in the middle: the Sower sculpture atop the Nebraska Capitol | Above on the right: kindness cards being printed at Constellation Studios on paper embedded with wildflower seeds donated by Porridge Papers.

Everyone is encouraged to do intentional and random acts of kindness between MLK Jr. Day, the third Monday of January, and March 20th, the International day of Happiness. February 17th is a great day for a random act of kindness (RAK), because it happens to be RAK Day! We will have kindness idea exchanges at the happiness celebrations (Omaha: March 20th | Lincoln: March 22nd) and create a digital album of the kindness cards. We will plant the wildflower seed paper cards on May 19, 2025, the 100th anniversary of Malcolm X’s birth.

Seeds of Kindness – Seeds of Happiness launched at the premier performance of Secret Kindness Agents and the Martin Luther King Jr. Day of Service 2025 at UNO.

Suggestions:

Kids are encouraged to:
- Choose a secret kindness agent name.
- Plan their acts of kindness with a friend.
- Do their acts of kindness anonymously (with a friend or solo).
- Talk with a friend about the experience of practicing kindness.
Try the VIA Survey of Character Strengths (free) at www.viacharacter.org or at www.authentichappiness.sas.upenn.edu:
Have a conversation with a friend about each other’s CliftonStrengths and/or VIA strengths (listening is an act of kindness):
Share how you have seen each other’s strengths in action.
Continue the conversation by envisioning how you might translate your strengths into acts of kindness.

Play with variables as you practice your acts of kindness:
- Spontaneous or intentional.
- Anonymous or not.
Take a moment to reflect about each of your acts of kindness after the fact:
Write a short reflection on a card (click here for a template) after each act.
- Write a sentence about what the act was.
- Write another sentence or two reflecting on what feelings were generated and about any insights you may have had for future acts of kindness.
If you already volunteer, please make a kindness card for each of your volunteer endeavors, and write about what they mean to you.
Bring your cards to your community’s International Day of Happiness celebration (Omaha 3/20/2025 | Lincoln 3/22/2025) for a kindness idea exchange!
Pick up kindness cards at Constellation Studios 2055 O St, Lincoln, NE (check out some behind the scenes images).
We will be planting the wildflower cards later this spring to make a few kindness wildflower gardens.

How will our seeds of kindness bloom?

Hope:

“Everything that is done in the world is done by hope.” ~Martin Luther King, Jr.

“Hope is a perceived capability to derive pathways to desired goals, and motivate oneself via agency thinking to use those pathways.” ~Prof. C.R. (Rick) Snyder

Kindness:

“Life’s persistent and most urgent question is ‘What are you doing for others?’” ~Martin Luther King, Jr.

Forms of Kindness:

Playful: Organize a block party or open-mic stand-up comedy event!
Compassionate: Volunteer at a hospital or soup kitchen.
Generative: Become a youth mentor or coach a youth sports team.

Friendship:

“We must concentrate not merely on the negative expulsion of war, but the positive affirmation of peace.” ~Martin Luther King, Jr. Anti-War Conference, Los Angeles, California, February 25, 1967.

“Love is the only force capable of transforming an enemy into a friend.” ~Martin Luther King, Jr.

“In a real sense all life is inter-related. All [people] are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny. Whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly. I can never be what I ought to be until you are what you ought to be, and you can never be what you ought to be until I am what I ought to be…” ~Martin Luther King, Jr. “Letter from a Birmingham Jail” April 16, 1963

Click here for a kindness card template.

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