fitness · habits · self care

Altruistic August from Action for Happiness? Sounds like a plan!

Christine Hennebury

Whether you call it kindness or you use a ten-cent-word like altruism, the world needs a lot more of it right now and the Action for Happiness calendar for August is a great place to start.

As always, the calendar is full of small practices that almost anyone could try but if you don’t feel up to the practice of the day, it’s totally cool to be kind in a whole different way. I’m sure you have a huge repertoire of kind actions you can take at any time.

In fact, even though this calendar is about being kind to others, it’s also a swell idea to practice being kinder to ourselves – these Self-Compassion Practices from Dr. Kristin Neff are a good place to start.

And the small actions are the most important part.

It’s pretty easy to get caught up in waiting to do a big project or to solve a big problem but to not actually be able to get started.

Doing a small thing right now is way better than developing a big thing that never actually gets done.

So, as you give these small actions a whirl, please don’t worry that you aren’t doing enough right now. It’s ok to take the small steps now and let them build over time.

Here’s the full calendar for this month and today’s action is pretty straightforward, “Ask someone how they feel and really listen to their reply.”

Good luck out there, folks!

a calendar from Action for Happiness for August 2026
An image of a calendar of tips for Altruistic August 2026 that features small cartoon drawings of altruistic along the bottom edge. (for example, someone is putting coins in a tin, someone else is offering noodles to a friend, someone else is picking up garbage. Each block of the calendar features an action for that day and the background of each block is either dark or light blue or dark or light green.
A video from the Action for Happiness YouTube channel entitled, “Never underestimate the power of small acts of kindness.” The still image features Vanessa King, a middle-aged woman with medium blonde hair cut in a bob with a bang. She is wearing a white top with a series of red bead necklaces looped around her neck. Text to the right of the image reads, “Kindness Matters” in red and “3 tops tips with Vanessa King” in yellow.

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Published by Christine Hennebury

I'm a writer/storyteller/director/creativity & lifestory coach with a black belt in ITF Taekwon-do. I read voraciously and I write like my fingers are on fire. I'm the founder and Chair of the Association for the Arts in Mount Pearl and I'm a former president of the St. John's Storytelling Festival. I bake a mean chocolate chip cookie.

One thought on “Altruistic August from Action for Happiness? Sounds like a plan!”

  1. Love this general idea – and lots of the suggestions. I find it surprising, and pleasing, how often I get a return smile from anyone I happen to smile at. In the airport the other day, there were lots of occasions (who got to the line first? who can find space in the overhead bin? who can share friendly amusement at or with some of the quirky shop-keepers? thank guys who offer to help with luggage? and so on). I almost always feel up to sharing a smile, and almost always get one in return. So easy, such a brief but clear shift in the atmosphere! It costs nothing and makes me feel happier, too.

    PS – the help with luggage offer 1) is not surprising or anti-feminist since I am a small, older woman with mostly white hair; 2) gives me a chance to show off my strength!

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