If you wants ideas and inspiration on this subject, the Random Acts of Kindness website is where to get them – it’s a fantastic resource. Do take a look.

This is fascinating stuff…you may recall our blog a few weeks ago about how counting your blessings can make you happier. Well I have stumbled across another article about counting, this time in the Journal of Happiness Studies; the focus is on how counting your kindnesses can increase your level of happiness.

“Simply by counting acts of kindness for one week, people appear to have become happier and more grateful” (say Otake, Shimai, Tanaka-Matsumi, Otsui and Fredrickson, Nov 2006).

‘This is too good to be true’, I hear your cry, ’surely it can’t be that simple?’… Well, it would seem that there’s no catch…. Only that you have to be a) happy and b) kind to start with… Oh and c) you have to be able to count. Ah, I knew those years I spent number-crunching would come in useful sometime…