Kindness Rocks Project History
If you’ve been walking along a nature trail or wading through the surf at the beach and randomly found a beautifully painted rock, you already have an idea of what the Kindness Rocks Project is.
The project was created by Megan Murphy, who lost her parents in her early-20s. In an effort to connect with her parents, Murphy would go on long walks and “talk” to them, asking them questions about things about which she needed advice.
Before too long, she’d developed a system. If she found a heart-shaped rock on the ground, that was her dad speaking to her; a piece of sea glass was from her mother. In this way, she cultivated a love of collecting rocks. This was the foundation for Kindness Rocks, but it hadn’t yet truly begun.
One day, she decided to write something kind on a few of the rocks she’d collected, and later, as she took her daily walk, she dropped five rocks she’d decorated. Later that evening, by chance or by fate, a friend of hers texted her a picture of one of Murphy’s rocks (though Murphy hadn’t told anyone she had dropped them).
Murphy denied any knowledge of having made the rock. Her friend, likely recognizing Murphy’s handwriting and knowing she loved to walk that beach, told Murphy, “If you did drop this rock, it made my day. I was having a rough day, and the message just meant so much.”
Murphy credits that exact moment as the beginning of The Kindness Rocks Project (TKRP). Seeing how much good one tiny little rock did for her friend who was sad inspired Murphy to continue to decorate and drop more rocks for more people to find and enjoy. Eventually, the movement went viral, and now there are TKRP Facebook groups all over the place.
What is the purpose of Kindness Rocks?
Affirmation Cards
Affirmation Cards from The Kindness Rocks Project
At its core, The Kindness Rocks Project is a grassroots movement to try to bring a little more kindness, joy and compassion into the world. TKRP encourages people everywhere to create their own TKRP Facebook groups for projects in their communities. These smaller groups use hashtags to link back to the original project in an effort to connect like-minded and kindhearted people from various regions.
Randomly finding a small rock telling someone “You Are Loved” or “Be Strong” or even “This, too, Shall Pass” can turn someone’s whole day around and remind that person that there’s good in the world. That’s the goal of TKRP.
How do you start a kindness rock project?
There are a few different ways to become involved in The Kindness Rocks Project. The first thing to do is visit TKRP’s website and sign up for email updates and a video showing you how to start.
Next, just make some painted rocks of your own and leave them somewhere someone might find them. If you’re going to make them, though, TKRP encourages you to take pictures and share them on social media, tagging TKRP using the hashtag #TheKindnessRocksProject or the @ symbol (@TheKindnessRocksProject).
Finally, you can create your own group on Facebook that links back to the main TKRP group. To do this, you simply add a link to the page in the “About Us” section of the group. Then encourage members to take pictures of any rocks they paint or find and link them to TKRP using the hashtag #TheKindnessRocksProject in their posts. Members of the group can also email inspirational stories and photos to TKRP’s main site to be featured.
What do you write on a Kindness Rock?
Where to Find Messages for Rocks
Finding empowering and inspirational quotes to decorate your rocks can be easy at first. We all have things we love to say to make people feel better. You can use those to decorate your rocks. The more rocks you paint, though, the harder it is to find original, unique things to say.
Luckily, there are plenty of places to go to find kindness quotes, inspirational quotes and other empowering messages. Depending on your faith, religious scripture can be a good place to start. Even if you aren’t religious, there are still some great words to live by.
Goodreads is another great option because it has a searchable quotation function. For example, you can simply type in “kindness quotes,” and it’ll provide you with a list of quotations from books, plays and poems that relate to kindness. You can search for anything from “love” to “friendship” to “octopus” and find relevant quotations.
There are also some great websites dedicated to quotations. A few of these include Wisdom Quotes, The Quote Garden, Brainy Quote and WikiQuote. Although Quote Investigator is actually used for tracing the origins of quotations, it can also be a great place for inspiration.
Finally, look at examples of other TKRP painted rocks for inspiration on pages like Rockpaintingguide.com and Pinterest.
Side note – you can help your kindness messages stand out by painting them on an interesting background. Here’s an article on paint pouring that might help.
#thekindnessrocksproject
The Kindness Rocks Project on Instagram
#thekindnessrocksproject
The Kindness Rocks Project on Instagram
#thekindnessrocksproject
The Kindness Rocks Project on Instagram
What kind of paint do you use on kindness rocks?
When it comes to decorating your rocks, you can do so with either paint, paint pens or Sharpie markers. Just ensure whatever you use is non-toxic. Most people find that the best way is to completely cover the rock’s surface with non-toxic paint and then use non-toxic paint pens for the image/writing. Finally, using clear, non-toxic sealant will make sure your image doesn’t fade or chip away.
It’s important to use non-toxic paints and markers so the paint doesn’t harm the environment, the people who find your rocks or any animals that may come in contact with them before they’re found. The goal of The Kindness Rocks Project is to spread happiness and goodness. Making people, animals and the environment sick with toxic paint isn’t the way to do that.
Where do you find rocks to use for kindness messages?
Make sure you source your rocks ethically and don’t disturb the natural environment. Don’t take rocks being used for decoration in landscaping or used by/near the habitat of animals or insects. Also, don’t take too many rocks from one place.
You can pick them up while you’re walking along a long path so that you can pick up one or two at a time at several, distinct intervals. Finding small, smooth rocks from creeks and riverbeds is also a good idea.
Visit the Leave No Trace website to find out more about how to find and collect your rocks without harming the environment.
Kindness Rocks Project – Conclusion
Finding and decorating rocks for The Kindness Rocks Project can be a soothing, stress-relieving activity you can do alone or with your family. You can use it as bonding time with your children. Go on a walk together to find your rocks; paint them together at home; then go and drop them together.
You never know what kind of joy, happiness and hope finding your family’s rocks can bring to someone who stumbles across one. It’s truly a Pay-It-Forward activity that takes so little and can deliver so much. If you’d like to read people’s inspirational stories about what finding TKRP rocks meant to them, visit the main website here.
Happy painting!