Friday, July 6, 2012

Pay It Forward: Celebrate Your Birthday with Random Acts of Kindness

We are so honored to know Kristin Traina. A soon-to-be-amazing teacher, Kristin is always looking for ways to give and empower others. Her birthday is no different. On Monday, July 9th, Kristin turns twenty-two years old. For her birthday she's spending the day engaged in 22 random acts of kindness. Talk about seeing beautiful!?!?! We are in awe of Kristin and her giving and in honor of her birthday, we'll be engaging in twenty-two random acts of kindness too. What about you?

Looking for some acts of kindness from which you can engage? Enter Life Vest Inside. You'll remember them as our See Beautiful non-profit of the month here, but Life Vest Inside continues impressing, as they now offer Act of Kindness (AOK) and Witness Cards.

The Act of Kindness cards each provide a different kindness act you can complete. You perform the act, pass the card to someone else, and share your experience at Life Vest Inside (links below). We LOVE these cards! Here are some ideas from the cards if you're looking for ideas:
  • Stick up for someone even if they aren't around;
  • Visit someone sick;
  • Swallow your pride, pick up the phone an call that person you have been meaning to ask forgiveness from. One kind word can erase even the most intense fury;
  •  Call someone who didn't show up to school or work today;
  • Invite someone who is sitting alone to sit at your lunch table;
  • Make someone smile;
  • Make-up with a friend (fighting isn't worth it) - Remember we all make mistakes;
  • Donate old books to the library;
  • Pay for the coffee of the person standing behind you in line;
  • Call a friend you haven't spoken to in a while;
  • Have faith in yourself! That's right, sometimes the hardest kindness to do is for yourself!;
  • Be appreciative! (Thank your parents for dinner, even if you may not like it!);
  • Pay the toll for the person behind you;
  • Spend time with your grandparents (it means the world to them);
  • Give someone a compliment;
  • Tell someone important in your life how much they mean to you;
The Witness Cards from Life Vest Inside are AWESOME! You can give out the Witness Cards when you witness someone else doing an act of kindness. After you receive a Witness Card, you get to be one the lookout for someone else doing an act of kindness. It's like a whole big cycle of seeing and creating beautiful!

Here's where you come in, if you'd like to honor Kristin with us, you can complete a random act of kindness and let us know about it. We'll compile all random acts of kindness conducted from today through Monday, Kristin's birthday. You can snap a picture of the act of kindness for her scrapbook. If you use Instagram, you can also upload your picture with #LifeVestInside and they'll compile the acts and share too! Whew-whoo, there's so much seeing beautiful!

Happy Birthday, Kristin Traina! Thank you for reminding us what celebrating is really all about, for it is infinitely better to give than receive.

Connect with Life Vest Inside HERE.
Upload your picture to Life Vest Inside HERE (#lifevestinside).
Upload your picture to Life Vest Inside's twitter feed HERE.

You can submit your act of kindness and pictures in the comments section below or email them to lcrissmays@seebeautiful.com

As always, happy seeing beautiful!
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Are you looking for a for a tangible reminder to see beautiful, or know someone who needs one? Check out our See Beautiful products (and feel good knowing a portion of proceeds from every purchase is donated to charity. This month a portion of all proceeds will be donated to the Ferst Foundation for Childhood Literacy. Click HERE.

21 comments:

  1. I for one am going to enjoy doing this.What a beautiful way to honor someone birthday.  I think I will steal I mean barrow this idea for my next birthday.  But do I count my years in dog years or human years?  I think I will do it in dog years so that would mean 104 random acts of kindness.  20 for the first human year and 7 for each year after that..  Have a beautiful weekend (I know you will).
    Blessings,
    Goose

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  2. Jennifer Battendieri CrissJuly 6, 2012 at 6:44 AM

    Quite the woman.....Happy Birthday to Kristin! Great way to celebrate Seeing Beautiful in your world. 

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  3. What a phenomenal way to spend your birthday! Kindness most certainly keeps the world afloat! Happy Birthday Kristin and thank you SEE BEAUTIFUL for your continuous support! You are changing the way people SEE the world:)

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  4. What a beautiful way to spend a birthday! Thank you Kristin!

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  5. Yay, I'm excited to be a new follower. I would love if you followed back at www.iheartpears.blogspot.com

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  6. I like this idea of doing a # of random acts of kindness on your birthday (though mine would have to be a lot more since I'm much older!).

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  7.  Goose, you do so many random acts of kindness, I'm sure you could knock out 104 without even blinking. You could probably complete that before lunch. We thought you'd like today's post - as we knew it would spark something beautiful in your thinking! Happy seeing beautful!

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  8.  Yes! Wasn't it wonderful? When Kristin told us what she was doing we knew we had to share. It was just too awesome not too. Now we're so excited about celebrating her birthday by engaging in random acts of kindness in her honor. Yay!

    Happy seeing beautiful!

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  9.  Glad to have you! So happy you're seeing beautiful with us. We'll check out your blog now.

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  10.  Wasn't it wonderful? I can absolutely see this being something you love, as you're always showcasing kind, beautiful things on your blog. Happy seeing beautiful!

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  11.  Thank YOU Life Vest Inside for growing your kindness movement in a way that's changing the world. We're completely inspired by your amazing work and proud to support it! Happy seeing beautiful!

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  12.  I could see you loving something like this - though you do this stuff every day - EVERY SINGLE DAY. Thank you for that.

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  13. Those are all such great ideas.  You could turn around someone's entire day by doing one of these suggestions.

    Paula
    lifeasweknowitbypaula.blogspot.com

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  14. Happy Birthday Kristin!  Love paying it forward.  Wonderful thoughts and ideas here.   

    http://debrasblogpureandsimple.blogspot.com/2012/01/small-things-count-too.html

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  15. this is a really good list. thanks! happy seeing beautiful!

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  16. Thanks again for stopping by my blog. I'm happy to follow you! Have a great day

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  17. Loving this list! I am jotting some down;) One I would add is give workers, such as construction, or other workers in your area, cookies!!! You won't believe how happy it makes them:)

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  18. What a wonderful idea!! I love the idea of Pay it Forward :)

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  19. Thanks Everyone. Lydia is really too flattering in this blog. I am not that amazing, and I actually stole the idea from something I saw on Pinterest. But I can honestly say, this Birthday has been the best one yet, and I am sure will only get better every year. It is so much fun and fulfilling to help others and see the joy spread. It really is the best birthday present. When I finish all of my acts I am going to put together a video and hopefully share it here, on Facebook, and through email, so others might start the tradition and pay it forward. I will also share my own list, that might give some new ideas for small, free and or cheap things that make a big impact. Thanks again for all of your support!

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  20. Absolutely love this idea - thanks for the inspiration!

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  21. Thanks for sharing this awesome blog... It's great idea, I really like it..

    small act of kindness
    pay it forward acts of kindness

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Thank you for sharing your thoughts & helping others see beautiful too!