Because "Kindness isn't tiny."
Who couldn't use a little dose of kindness in their day? The seed for Instagram account Tiny Kindness was planted when, as founder Rachel Hunt Steenblik, "a mama, poet, editor, and philosophy professor" writes, "my then 10-year-old niece did two very small, sweet things for me." On one occasion, "She ... gave me the warmest hug and told me she loved me, then secretly made my bed and lined up all of mine and my children's shoes," and on another, "She made me tea with lemon and honey. The trick was that she had never made tea before, and cut the little packet open and dumped the herbs straight in. It was so sweet of her for trying, that I didn't even mind."
Hunt Steenblik goes on to write:
"I finally started collecting stories November 15, 2019 the week marking the one year anniversary of my oldest brother's burial from an overdose. I had found out about his passing 9 days after moving to China from the United States. I was still living far from home and needed to find a new way to carry my grief that would let me survive it. Very consciously and purposefully looking for goodness and kindness in the world was my try."
Since that time, Hunt Steenblik has posted over 1,300 stories on her Tiny Kindness Instagram account.
In the most recent post from the account, an anonymous person shared:
This lovely post from May 2020 highlights the account's motto: no matter how small the action might seem, "Kindness isn't tiny."
If you have a story you'd like to share, Tiny Kindness invites you to "Send submissions w/ brief story, 1st name, last initial + the place of kindness" here.
Give Tiny Kindness a follow on Instagram or Facebook, and discover the soothing, inspiring opposite of doomscrolling (no, not gleefreshing, although we like that, too!): kindness-scrolling. And let us know in the comments what your favorite stories are, or any tiny kindnesses that's happened to you!
