It’s Random Acts of Kindness week – an initiative created by The Random Acts of Kindness Foundation who believe that the world will be a significantly better place if we encourage the spread of kindness.
Whilst most of us have good intentions to be kind to those around us, it can be hard to come up with specific ideas for random acts of kindness.
At Mapway HQ we love the idea of bringing a little more love and happiness to the world and whilst the London commute can be one of the most stressful and frustrating parts of the day – where better to take part in this idea?
5 random acts of kindness you can do on the London Underground
1 – Offer to help someone with their luggage.
When you’re just trying to survive your London Underground commute like everyone else, it can be too easy to look at the person with the over-sized suitcase and assume they’ll be fine or that someone else will probably offer to help.
But today’s the day to be more pro-active. Offer to help them carry their luggage down the stairs or even just prevent them toppling down the escalator. Not only will you be helping them, your fellow commuters will appreciate this act of kindness because they don’t have to dodge a suitcase stuck half-way down the stairs.
2 – Buy a coffee for the next person in line.
How you approach this one can vary. You might go for the “anonymous donation” route and subtly slide a fiver to the coffee barista. Or you can turn to the person behind you and ask what they’d like.
This might result in a very British and very flustered “Oh… are… are you… sure?” but they will definitely be smiling once you tell them about the whole Random Acts of Kindness thing.
3 – Give something to a busker.
When our lives are so busy it’s far too easy to ignore a busker in favour of getting to our destination that bit quicker. For a change spend the time to stop and listen to them before throwing some coins their way (or notes if you’re feeling extra generous).
And to really get in the spirit of random acts of kindness week, compliment their music as well, we guarantee it’ll make their day.
4 – Offer your seat to someone who’s standing.
Okay, so if you spot a lady wearing a “Baby on board” badge or someone who is less able to stand, you should be offering them your seat anyway, whether it’s a train, bus or the Tube.
But the idea of this one is that you offer your seat to the first person who is forced to stand once things get busy. Or maybe you spot an empty seat when you get on and graciously gesture to someone next to you so that they can have it instead.
5 – Give out flowers to an entire Tube train.
This one requires a bit of preplanning. Buy a large bouquet of flowers, take it on to the London Underground and the second the doors close, start passing out a flower to every single person. For an extra touch you could attach cards to each one with short positive messages.
Have some ideas of your own? Tell us about them on Twitter! @TubeMapLondon
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