Random Acts of Kindness

Somseva is an organization I founded last year to offer spiritual tools and support for those who are committed to serving others. The name Somseva comes from the combination of Science of Mind (SOM), the spiritual philosophy founded by Ernest Holmes, and Seva, the Sanskrit word meaning selfless service.

Starting this week, Somseva will be inviting us every week to participate in simple service opportunities that don’t require joining anything or a large commitment of time. The service opportunities will instead be about showing up right where we are in service to others. No good deed is too small to make a difference, and together many small deeds make a major difference.

This week’s invitation is wide open – we are inviting you to perform random acts of kindness whenever and wherever you are inspired. You can post comments and photos about your experiences on our Facebook group page (https://www.facebook.com/groups/somseva/).

One of my favorite random acts of kindness that I performed was one time that I paid for the groceries of the person behind me in line. It occurred spontaneously when the cashier unintentionally added the groceries of the person behind me to my bill. Seeing she only had a few things, I found myself saying “I must be meant to pay for your groceries.” While she protested at first that I didn’t need to do that, she then graciously accepted. Afterwards she told me she recognized me from a spiritual community where I was in a leadership role. She noted how refreshing it was that my behavior in life was congruent with how I was in spiritual community.

Similarly, I was recently the beneficiary of a random act of kindness where someone unknown to me paid for me. I arrived at a sacred dance event not remembering that the organizers only accepted cash. Not having any cash in my wallet, there was an awkward moment until very quickly a young man pulled cash from his wallet so readily it was as if he were waiting for such an opportunity to help someone. He immediately handed me the cash and said it was on him.

This is the kind of world I want to (and do) live in – a world where we look after one another, easily and readily helping whenever we see an opportunity. Of course, random acts of kindness often don’t involve money as there are so many ways we can respond to the needs of others.

The invitation this week is to be open to noticing opportunities for random acts of kindness and to act on them. Then tell us about it on our Facebook group page. Simple right? Okay, let’s see what a great difference we can make this week, and let’s have fun doing it!

Are you in? Okay, I’ll see you on Facebook.

Enjoy the journey.