28 Days of Kindness


by Ara T. Howard

Jessica Watson has put together a super fun project for the month of February who's aim is simple: to encourage people and companies to pledge an intentional act of kindness daily for the entire month.

You can read more about the event here.

DOJO4 is committed to the campaign and we will be chronicling our daily acts here.

Stay tuned, and get on board!

2015-02-01

2015-02-02

  • dojo4 bought coffee & croissants for some friends at our local fav, Boxcar.
  • Sam did everyone's dishes so we'd arrive to a clean dojo kitchen this morning.

2015-02-03

  • Emily made quiche and coffee at 7am for the babysitter, who is not a morning person.
  • Ara meet with a financial planner that was interested in our pivot and he could use some of the inspiration to make a similar pivot for his own business.

2015-02-04

  • Ara took the afternoon off (first time ever) to take his son Axel skiing.
  • Luke got up early to shovel the DOJO4 porch.
  • Jesse took a friend's recycling to the Nederland transfer station while he was on vacation.

2015-02-05

  • fred rogers on love

2015-02-06

  • Emily is coordinating a meal train for a friend who just had a baby.
  • DOJO4 helped fund a poetry book built by a local high school student: http://www.awesomefoundation.org/en/chapters/boulder.
  • Ara's family had 'father son' and 'mother daughter' date night.
  • Jesse gave his lovely wife a foot massage.

2015-02-07

  • dalai lama on kindness
  • Jesse gave his housemate a ride to evening meditation at the Shoshoni Retreat Center outside of Nederland
  • Emily made hosted dinner for some friends who are going through a rough patch.

2015-02-08

  • Luke and Nicole brought this amazing Mahkla all the way from India for DOJO4 dalai lama on kindness
  • Jesse spent 4 hours volunteering for NedCompost building bike trailers for the bicycle powered compost collection service.

2015-02-09

  • Emily donated to her friend's Veterans Expeditions GoFundMe campaign for combat veterans, which empowers veterans to overcome challenges associated with military service through outdoor training and leadership.
  • Corey spent the weekend doing wifey-mommy-friendy things, which knowing her were both kind and funny.

2015-02-10

  • Emily let someone with 1 item go ahead of her cart full of diapers, kale, kleenex and the like at the grocery store. Late night.
  • dojo4 joined Ecocycle in their proposal to Boulder City Council that would make recycling mandatory for Boulder businesses. Keep it out of the landfill, people!
  • Jessica, friends, and neighborhood bar hosted gift cards for the homeless, a local event where people could make greeting cards, and donate gift cards, to be given to the homeless through Our Daily Bread (a Catholic Charity).

donating old books to a catholic charity

2015-02-11

  • Ara found this on the internet:
  • Jesse helped his wife tan a sheep's hide & consoled a friend about the death of a chicken.
  • Jen spent 3 hours helping her daughter Nova make hand-made Valentine's cards for her 3rd grade class.
  • Jessica got to know her Lyft driver, who picked her up on a cold evening. Turns out he just became a granddad and couldn't be happier.

2015-02-12

  • Ara got up early and made famous Alaskan pumpkin pancakes for his kids on Valentine's day. pumpkin pancakes
  • Jessica payed the toll for the car behind her while driving back from the gym.

paying a toll

2015-02-13

  • Ara booted Luke out of the DOJO4 door early on a sunny day for a friday afternoon bike ride.

2015-02-14

  • DOJO4 finished building the new U.S. Cycling Monument website
  • Jessica brought flowers for a friend, and let her neighbor borrow her outlet adapter for his international trip.

2015-02-15

  • Angela cooked a lovely chicken soup and cookies for the household.

2015-02-16

  • Grandpa Alan flew out from Oregon to ski with his grandkids ski lift
  • Luke shoveled everyone on his block's sidewalk during the storm. And built a snow fort for Felix.

2015-02-17

  • Ara called an old friend he hadn't spoken too in 20 years and reconnected.
  • "Nana" babysat so that Emily & her hubby could have a date night.

2015-02-18

  • Ara got up early to make sourdough waffles for his kids.
  • Luke bought Nicole a BRAND NEW BIKE!
  • Jessica happily held the door open for someone carrying a grocery cart and a baby.

2015-02-19

  • Emily got up at 5am to comfort a sick kiddo and figured why not make a big breakfast for everyone, too.
  • Jessica left good reviews for a couple of her favorite local businesses.

leaving good reviews

  • Corey had a bunch of people over to her parent's Losar celebration for good food, good cheer, and merriment.

2015-02-20

  • Jessica rescued Ara, having himself fallen off the nice wagon for a day, with some of her choice acts to keep DOJO4's nicey-nice mojo rockin.

2015-02-21

  • Jesse found someone's NJ drivers license in the street by the bus station then stalked them online and found its owner. The owner sent a self addressed envelope with $20 and a kind note inside. He gave the $20 to his roommate who was just lamenting her financial state as he opened the letter. Double kindness.
  • Brett did a million chores, cooked dinner and brought home flowers for Emily. Rockstar.

2015-02-22

  • See yesterday's double-kindness.

2015-02-23

  • Jeremy mailed some personal items to an Aussie traveler who left them behind here in B-town.
  • Emily made time to show up for a friend in need ~ the more love we give, the more we have.

2015-02-24

  • DOJO4 bought chair massages for its hard-working developers and friends.
  • In a birthday kindness reverse-move Michael woke up and made breakfast for his lovely wife and daughter.

2015-02-25

  • Emily did some volunteer work for her art teachers.
  • Jen made handmade soap for Axel and Nova's teachers.

2015-02-26

  • Spike was ber neighborly and shoveled our walk and his out from this deluge of snow Boulder is experiencing.
  • Ara shovel the nieghbor's driveway too ;-)

2015-02-27

  • Emily started volunteering this month on a low-income/affordable housing campaign.
  • After a sleepless night with a sick kid, Emily & Brett were still kind to each other this morning. We're pretty sure that kindness after no sleep counts extra.
  • Ara reached out to an extended family member struggling with mental illness.

2015-02-28

  • Jeremy took time out of his Saturday morning to show Emily around Github - he is a super kind and helpful teacher!

Thanks so much to Jessica Watson and her inspiring 28 Days of Kindness Movement. This world needs her and her army of Day Makers!

official day makers

We'll leave you with a little Pema, for good measure.

pema on kindness