I kept a record of what I was doing in a blog, in it I told the small daily stories of that first year of kindness, and very soon other people began to tell me theirs. People made suggestions of what I could try the next day.
Others nominated their friends and recipients of a card or hand made gift through the post. Some of the strangers I met whilst doing this remain friends to this day.
What I began to see and read was a more hopeful kind of story than the one I had been seeing on the news.
Once the year was up (366 days, as it covered a leap year), having experienced the most uplifting, intense and inspiring time of my life, everything had changed for me, for the better.
I was no longer sad. I was optimistic, inspired and felt more connected to the world.
I've grown accustomed to people asking what I did that year and telling them the stories.
I less often get asked what I got back - and even though it may be a cliché, what I got back was a lot more.
The biggest benefit of committing to daily acts of kindness is that any fears you have about approaching strangers quickly disappear.
People start to tell you their stories of kindnesses given, received and witnessed. It turns out the world is full of human beings committing acts of kindness, selflessness, courage, sacrifice, at every single moment, all over the world.
You start to notice that. You feel happier (you get both the pleasure of doing something kind yourself and the pleasure of finding out that the world isn't such a bad place after all).