12 Kinds of Kindness - logo 12 Kinds of Kindness - handheld logo Eye

A 12-step experiment designed to open our hearts, eyes, and minds. Learn more
Step 01 Step 01: Can I Help You?  Step 01 Can I Help You?  Can we gain any empathy or perspective by talking to strangers with different situations? We asked New Yorkers one very simple question: “How can we help you?” Step 02 Step 02: Open Your Eyes Step 02 Open Your Eyes Bystander apathy is a phenomenon. We hung missing people signs all over NYC and sat next to them for an entire day. Did anyone notice? What if we did the same thing with a dog? Step 03 Step 03: Switch It Up Step 03 Switch It Up There are always people who bother us and situations we try to avoid due to our selfishness. What if we had to do their job? Could we be kinder to them in the future? Step 04 Step 04: Don’t Beat Yourself Up Step 04 Don’t Beat Yourself Up We all beat ourselves up for the way we've handled things in the past. We tried to forgive ourselves for these experiences by opening up about them. Step 05 Step 05: Forgive & Forget Step 05 Forgive & Forget We faced someone who hurt us in the past. Can we let go of the pain or misunderstanding we have toward them? Can we gain any compassion or empathy by confronting them? Step 06 Step 06: Face Yourself Step 06 Face Yourself Everyone has their own kinds of fears and insecurities, and we often hide behind them by judging others. We took a major personal insecurity of ours and faced it head on. Step 07 Step 07: Kill Them With  Kindness Step 07 Kill Them With Kindness They say the ultimate act of compassion is to learn to love your enemies. We tried to better understand someone we don’t get along with by doing something nice for them. Step 08 Step 08: Walk a Mile In Their Shoes Step 08 Walk a Mile In Their Shoes It’s easy to judge lifestyle decisions that we don’t like or that we don't understand. We participated in the lifestyles of others as a way to learn more about them and their decisions. Step 09 Step 09: Go Big or Go Home Step 09 Go Big or Go Home Why do we always seem to neglect the people who we are closest to? We picked one special person in our lives who we constantly neglect and did something nice for them. Step 10 Step 10: Pay It Forward Step 10 Pay It Forward We left wallets all over NYC with money and a note asking that the recipient do one kind thing with it. We also performed random acts of kindness on the streets. Step 11 Step 11: Wear a Smile Step 11 Wear a Smile For eight hours straight we walked around NYC and smiled at every person we came across. Could we make them smile? Could we bring a moment of happiness to their life? Step 12 Step 12: Dive Deep Step 12 Dive Deep For this last step we're going to dive deep into what we've learned and try to do something much larger than ourselves. We’ll open this platform to start a dialogue.