Joie Challenge Day 5: The Joy of Kindness
A little bit of kindness goes a long way.
Bonjour! We've reached the final day of our challenge, and I've been debating what this last task should be. There are so many ideas I want to share with you! But I’ve decided we should finish with something simple yet profound—the joy we get from acts of kindness and offering praise to others.
Giving a friend a sincere compliment or telling a family member what you appreciate about them will brighten their day, but research shows it can also boost happiness and lower your stress.
Our final challenge: Offer someone a sincere compliment or perform an act of kindness. It could be for a stranger or someone you know—what matters is that it's heartfelt and meaningful.
Make it specific: instead of just telling your mom you love your weekly catch-up calls, mention a time she gave great advice or helped you through a tough day. Compliment your partner’s cooking that you enjoy but often forget to praise. Or tell someone online how they’ve inspired you or brightened your day.
I always feel so blessed when someone shares a compliment with me. My friends are so generous with their love and compliments. Recently, my friend Sonja told me that my superpower is making people feel welcome and comfortable. She had no idea how much I needed to hear that on a rough day. Even compliments from strangers can hit hard—like the time someone on Instagram said, "You bring authenticity to being one who loves serving others." It brought me to tears.
All this kindness reminds me to step up doing the same for others. So today, I’m challenging myself to give the gift of kindness—through both words and actions.
Some compliments stay with us forever. So tell someone you love something you admire about them today. Give joy, and you'll feel it in return.
This is the last day of our challenge! I’ve loved seeing your responses and hearing from so many of you. Your kindness has uplifted my first week back to work, and I’ll carry it with me into this new season.
Let me know how these exercises turned out for you. I'd love to hear about your experiences in the comments or please email me at ajiri@madamedelamaison.com.
Please share this challenge with a friend. If you are new here and want to go back and try the other challenges, you can find links below.
Welcome Challenge, Day 1, Day 2, Day 3, and Day 4.
Thank you, dear @ajiri, a phenomenal week of joie!💜
I love this! I’ll make a point of doing this today. I live in an apartment tower where you have to take the elevator and sometimes it seems people feel really awkward and don’t say much but “hi” when they walk in. But I usually at least try to ask how the day is going (granted, iI didn’t start doing that until an attractive man who moved out shortly after I moved on teased me about not talking!). The other day a woman popped her head back into the elevator to tell me how pretty my dress was and, of course, it made my morning. So I will definitely look for opportunities to do the same.