Hosting a Kindness Potluck is a great way to deepen your friendships and/or family relationships; make new friends; build community cohesion; and spread ripples of kindness into the world. It is a way to make a difference in these challenging times, when so many things feel beyond our control.    ​

Hosting a Kindness Potluck is simple. All you need is a space in your home where attendees can all sit together for discussion and a willingness on your part to lightly guide the conversation (or recruit someone in advance to do so). You can invite friends, family and/or neighbors. Or host a Kindness Potluck for co-workers or members of a club or social group you belong to. 

 

The basic structure for the event is described below. The exact amount of time for each section of the event will depend on how things unfold with the group. You may not get to everything and that’s okay. The goal is to have everyone feel like it was a meaningful experience without having them feel like it was too much.

 

Feel free to contact us at aokmaine@gmail.com to schedule a time to discuss hosting a Kindness Potluck.

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1. Welcome everyone, describe the structure for the potluck and have everyone introduce themselves and share a word or one or two sentences about “what does kindness mean to me?”

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2. Eating and mingling time with casual unguided conversation.

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3. Discussion Part One: Distribute Wheel of Kindness handouts and ask the following prompts:

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• What do you think about these 14 dimensions of kindness?

 

• Do any of them surprise you?

 

• Are there ways of being kind that are missing from the Wheel of Kindness?

 

• Which of these are your superpowers and which are areas you need to work on?

 

4. Discussion Part Two: Ask the following prompts:

 

• Who is someone in your life, either currently or in the past, who has been extraordinarily kind? How do/did they show it?

 

• What is an extraordinary Act of Kindness you’ve experienced or witnessed?

 

5. Discussion Part Three: Ask the following prompt:

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• What sort of struggles or problems are you facing? What sort of help or support do you need from the group?

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• Is there anyone not attending who is struggling who could use support that we might be able to give ( a friend, family member, neighbor, etc.)?

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6. Closing discussion: Ask the following prompts:

 

• How was this evening?

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• What will you take away from it?

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What If (We Were Devoted)  (Jeff Edelstein)

If You Knew (Ellen Bass)

Kindness (Naomi Shihab Nye): Here is a beautiful reading of this poem. 

Adrift (Mark Nepo): slightly reframed in the spirit of autumn’s falling leaves.

The Underrated Value of Kindness

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