There are times when you feel proud to be a member of our crazy, chaotic, insane civilization, and often these periods result from discovering that people are capable of kindness for no reason at all, other than it feels right. It kind of restores your faith in humanity and demonstrates that it’s not all ugly out there.

That’s why it was so great to discover this quiet but growing community of people who have decided that they’re going to try to show some love for the world in a very small but for some reason distinctly powerful way.

The idea of Give Mondays is to encourage people to do something nice for someone else on Monday morning, the time typically associated with the return to the drudgery of work. All you have to do to become part of the community is get an envelope (preferably blue but they’re not fussy), add a nice note inside and add some cash (again your choice, but they’re suggesting a tenner).

Then leave the envelope somewhere where it will be easily discovered, on a bus, car windscreen, shop window etc. Be discreet, and it will turn out like a treasure hunt.

There’s a website which tracks envelopes (blue are unopened, red are claimed) and the lovely thing is the feedback from recipients, who most often pay it forward, by sharing the gift with others. In this way a chain of good feeling can pass along the line on the worst day of the week for many people.

At this point, I’m going to ask the cynics to step away from their computers and pop off to make a cup of something. For the rest of us, sure it’s a tiny gesture in a sea of slops, but from small acorns, right? If you have doubts about the idea, just take a look at the Facebook and Twitter comments and smile. And remember one thing, acts of kindness tend to multiply and spread like a benign virus. And that’s official.