Mari-Lyn Hudson has a little challenge for all of us – show a little kindness.

Say good morning to all your fellow workers, tidy up the lunchroom table, or maybe leave an anonymous note telling someone how much you appreciate their work.

“It’s simple stuff,” says the Edmonton entrepreneur. “But it’s amazing how many people don’t even say good morning when they walk into the office each day.”

Mari-Lyn Hudson believes a kind attitude is key to workplace wellness.

For the past two years, Hudson’s been spreading the idea that kindness goes a long way in the workplace, the community and the world.

“I tell people and employers that kindness is everybody’s competitive advantage,” she says. “If you use it you’ll be surprised how things flourish.”

This month, Hudson launches a marketing plan to create a Kindness Challenge in Edmonton.

It is similar to the successful Corporate Challenges in Edmonton and Calgary, but without the physical activities. The idea is to get companies committing acts of kindness, and being rewarded through a points system.

“The more people hear about it, the more they say this is a refreshing idea,” says Hudson. “They like the concept that anyone can be involved. You don’t need to be athletic, just nice.”

The genesis for the Kindness Challenge took root two years ago. That’s when Hudson began an annual Y2K (Yes to Kindness) Conference where speakers are assembled to discuss kindness issues.

At the same time, Hudson and a small volunteer group have been handing out kindness awards to “ordinary people doing extraordinary acts of kindness.”

Through media press releases and websites, Hudson says the kindness awards now receive nominations from across Canada.

“We’re just this tiny little group and I’m flabbergasted that we’ve been getting (written) nominations from Quebec and Toronto, and of course, Edmonton.” In September 2001, buoyed by the responses she’d been receiving to Y2K and the kindness awards, she started her own company called Heart@Work.

Hudson had been attending the YMCA’s entrepreneurial program and was focusing on the hotel industry when an instructor suggested that she might want to follow her heart.

“I really wanted to bring kindness into the workplace, but I had no idea what it would look like,” she says.

Today the business is evolving. She makes money by consulting and says a lot of her work is migrating toward workplace wellness issues. The Kindness Challenge, she says, is a business venture being operated through her new company with the co-operation of community groups.

Hudson is no stranger to entrepreneurship. She has worked in the marketing and sales business, consulted with start-up companies, and co-wrote a book on building a business.

She confesses that her newest endeavour touches her soul.

There are people doing great acts of kindness, she says, but she’d like to see it become a daily part of everyone’s life.

“It’s something that seems to have slipped away from most of us, but I think Sept. 11 has people thinking more about these kind of issues again.”

Because kindness has become her business, she finds inspiration all the time. Hudson points to a single mother of three teenagers who gets up at 5 a.m. and picks up free bread to deliver to churches and halls that help the needy.

Or the travel agent who was booking a cruise for two newlyweds and went way beyond the call of duty. The bride had been searching for her birth mother without any luck. But the travel agent, through some detective work, found the mom and reunited the pair.

“These are examples of people doing some wonderful things,” says Hudson.

When people are the recipients of kindness, they tend to reciprocate. One good act perpetuates another.

How can we begin?

Start with a cheerful “hello” each morning, she says.

KINDNESS TIPS:

Here are a few suggestions for simple acts of kindness at work:

* Praise the work or attitude of someone you work with.

* Bring coffee or tea to a colleague.

* Buy a box of Popsicles to share with the staff in the summer.

* Hold a diversity potluck lunch and have everyone bring ethnic foods.

* Drive a co-worker home or walk them to their car.

* Extend an invitation to a shy or new co-worker to lunch.

* Commit to not supporting gossip or bullying in the workplace.

* Buy flowers and place one on the desk of all your co-workers.

* Clean your staff room and put a table cloth on the lunch table and add fresh flowers so that each of your co-workers can enjoy their lunch in splendour.

* Pay attention to positive news and pass it on.

* Start an inspirational library with donated books for everyone to enjoy.

* Give employees the option to take a half-paid day to volunteer at a local charity of their choice.

* Send out a survey to find ideas to champion a project that the employee group is interested in doing.

* Say “thank you” and “please” often.

* Tell your boss how much you appreciate him/her.

For more information, call 780-412-9582, visit www.angelfire.com/ab7/y2kindness or send an e-mail to kindness8@hotmail.com