Have you ever wanted to be a little less selfish and self-centered? Want to make the world a slightly better place?

We all fall somewhere along the self-centered spectrum, and some are worse than others. It is in our nature to ‘look out for number one’ and we are born into a world of seeming separateness. There is you, your mind, your thoughts, your body, and there are others who are not of your mind, thoughts or body.

It’s very easy to believe that we are all separate beings and that life is a zero-sum game. It’s only if you’ve grown, matured and began some self-inquiry or mindfulness that you start to see the true nature of all things which is that we are all the same and truly connected. This is not an easy thing to discern; it’s not obvious to most. But that doesn’t make it any less true.

So, if we’re all connected to each other and if you don’t like thinking of yourself as selfish and self-centered, then doing some good deeds for others is probably a good idea. One characteristic that makes a deed ‘good’ is that it is done without the expectation of a return favor.

Here are five simple and easy good deeds you can do today that will likely bring a tiny bit of happiness to another person.

1. Hold the Door for a Stranger

First of all, this one really shouldn’t even be included here because this ought to be common practice. Unfortunately, this is not always the case. It’s not the best feeling to have when both your hands are full and you’re struggling and the person right ahead of you lets the door slam in your face.

So whether you’re at the bank, the corner store, the post office, the mall or wherever, when you’re exiting the place, take a quick glance behind you and hold the door for someone.

 

 

2. Give the Drive-Thru Employee an Extra Dollar for the Person Behind You

This is a terrific good deed that will surely bring a smile to the person. Doing this is particularly altruistic because it ensures you won’t even see the person who you’re helping. You’ll be long gone by the time the person behind you knows what you’ve done.

 

3. Call Someone You Don’t Feel Like Calling Just to Say ‘Hi’

We all have people in our lives who would really appreciate a phone call from us who we don’t particularly want to talk to at the moment (I’m looking at you Grandma!)

The person may be an old college friend, a grandparent, a sick uncle, an old boss, or your parent. Whoever it is, they will love to hear from you, so give ’em a ring today and brighten their day up a little.

4. Give Someone a Compliment

This is so easy to do, why not do it often? The key is to be genuine. Don’t make stuff up or try to crowbar in obsequiousness. Simply vocalize a nice opinion you have of the person you’re with. The more out of character it seems, the better. If you like the jewelry someone is wearing, appreciate the outfit they picked out, find their opinion interesting, like their new hairstyle or truly find them to be helpful, go ahead and tell them!

 

5. Answer Someone’s Question Online

If you belong to an online forum, try answering someone’s question without expecting anything back. If you don’t belong to a forum, there are other places online where you can do this easily. For example, there are Yahoo Answers, Wiki Answers and Quora. Since you’ve got knowledge others don’t, why not share?

 

6. Buy Tickets Here

I know, I know, shameless self-promotion. But this article was titled ‘Five’ good deeds, so consider this one a bonus. Whenever you want to purchase sports (like Toronto Raptors tickets), theater tickets (like Hamilton Chicago tickets) or concert tickets (like Justin Bieber tickets or James Taylor Boston tickets), choose GoodDeedSeats since we’ll donate $5 from the profit of your order to a charity of your choice. How can you go wrong with that?

Although obvious and said many times before, doing a good deed for someone else will often create a cascading effect. The pay-it-forward mindset continues where that person feels a little more compelled to do the same for another person and so on till lots and lots of people are a little bit happier simply because you chose to do a good deed. So start today.