Just in case you need a nudge to perform a small act of niceness, this week is all about doing good for others.

Random Acts of Kindness Week runs through Sat., giving you a gentle push to unleash your altruism. 

“We just really want to show what kindness can do for the community,” says Jaime Clifton-Ross, marketing, and communications director for the Victoria Foundation, a charity dedicated to improving society that has been promoting the idea for almost a decade.

The Kiwis got the benevolence ball rolling, establishing a Random Acts of Kindness Day throughout New Zealand in 2005. Three years later, Kitchener-Waterloo, Ont., brought the idea to Canada, and in 2015, the Victoria Foundation picked up on it by appointing a single day to promote good deeds.

This year, it was thought a week would give people more time to become aware and to get involved.

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“We just feel like this is also another way to sort of help, you know, improve community well-being, and just to remind people that kindness can really go a long way,” Clifton-Ross Tells Capital Daily.

You can get a 'helper high'

It’s difficult to measure whether people who perform acts of kindness receive a dopamine rush—kind of like the instant buzz you feel when someone compliments you or you get some social media love—but Frederick Grouzet, a UVic associate professor of psychology, says “we assume this is what is happening because we see a lot of benefits from any act of kindness.”

Grouzet says people who do things for others get a “helper high” and actually feel much better about themselves. 

“So yes, we can infer that this kind of internal reward is happening when we focus on others and not on ourselves.”

The idea is simple: Do something nice for a stranger, with no strings attached, other than the hope they will do the same and pay it forward to someone else.

“It can be something as simple as, you know, thanking your bus driver when you get off the bus or helping a friend with their homework,” Clifton-Ross says. “It can also be, you know, donating food to your local food bank or giving someone some flowers.”

Remember, you don't know what that other person is going through

Last year, members of the Victoria Foundation gave out daffodils and most recipients were quickly thankful, but there were a few puzzled faces, as some were caught off guard by the random act of kindness. That quizzical response is instructive because not everyone is immediately going to understand why a stranger is trying to be kind.

“You don't know what someone's going through across the way from you, and you might actually have improved their day a little bit,” says Clifton-Ross, who adds, that the feeling of giving or helping is a huge personal reward in itself and it often has a trickle-down effect, especially if it’s a seemingly small gesture such as letting someone in ahead of you when you’re driving in traffic.   

“And just that small act of kindness might lead someone else to do the same thing,” she says. “So yeah, maybe it kind of goes both ways.”

What you get back isn’t the point, and Clifton-Ross says there’s no denying it, somehow makes the giver feel pretty good.

“I don't think there's any specific way of measuring it but I think, yeah, I think people just need it in their lives, and, you know, maybe we don't need to have a way to sort of measure it.”

“When I give, I get the same benefits as when I receive,” UVic’s Grouzet said.

If you do something kind, be sure to record it on social media, using the hashtag #RAKweekYYJ and tag @victoriafoundation where your post may be shared. 

Here are some thoughts on how to be thoughtful

Random Acts of Kindness ideas for kids.

Random Acts of Kindness ideas for adults. 

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