Happy World Kindness Day! This global celebration of kindness is the inspiration behind Friday’s night market, which is a fabulous street food, bar and shopping extravaganza as always, but with a dash of added community spirit. Take a look here for all the juicy details of what we have planned for you.
So, what does kindness mean to you?
There are many ways to be kind, from giving up your time for the local community to helping the planet, as well as those tiny things that make someone’s day.
We had a chat at Levy Market HQ about what kindness means to us, and we came up with some interesting ideas! Our admin and marketing assistant Vic thinks “Kindness is sexy!” and she’s not wrong! Is there any more attractive quality in a person than kindness?
For market manager Christine, kindness is linked to empathy. She says: “We all get annoyed by other people’s anti-social or even rude behaviour sometimes, but taking a moment to try to empathise (or giving someone the benefit of the doubt, you don’t know what kind of awful day they’ve had!) can be the kindest approach, as well as stopping something small from ruining your day!”
If you’re busting with good intentions but don’t know where to start being kind, here are some easy, simple ideas for Levenshulmians to try (but they can also be put into action no matter where you live)…
- Donate a book to the Levenshulme Train Station Book Exchange for someone else to enjoy
- Leave a nice review for a local business – it’ll make their day!
- Join in a local litter pick – or organise one yourself
- Give some of your time to Levenshulme Good Neighbours and befriend an older person on your street
- Help look after the Incredible Edible planters and veg beds around Levenshulme, and join in their planting/tidying days
- Give up your seat for someone else on the 192 bus
- Pay for a suspended coffee for someone at Levenshulme Inspire or Coffee Cranks at the market (you can do this at the night market on Friday too)
- Support your local shops, even if it’s just buying one thing when you happen to be passing. This is the message behind the fantastic Just a Card campaign.
- Say thank you – to your family, friends, your teacher, that nice person who holds a door open for you or catches you up when you’ve dropped your keys
- Vote for the Owl and Coconut to receive funding for a Kindfulness Festival in 2019!
- Pop in for a Thursday cuppa at Levenshulme Old Library and find out about volunteering
Look out for our Kindness Pledge Cards at Friday’s Night Market, we’d love it if you’d fill them in, snap a pic and share them online – let’s get the positivity flowing!