Kindness

Kindness Works ~ Connecting with Others Is Kindness in Action

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Connecting With Others is an Act of Kindness

Connecting with others benefits us in several ways

Improve your Quality of Life: If you’ve ever moved away from your social “home base” then you probably understand the degree to which social connections shape your everyday life and well-being. One study showed that a lack of social connection is a greater determinant to health than obesity, smoking, and high blood pressure. Social connection doesn’t necessarily mean physically being present with people in a literal sense, but someone’s subjective experience of feeling understood and connected to others. One scale that experts use to determine a person’s subjective level of loneliness is the UCLA Loneliness Scale.

Boost your Mental Health: Friendships offer a number of mental health benefits, such as increased feelings of belonging, purpose, and confidence, amplified levels of happiness, reduced levels of stress, and improved self-worth. A study conducted at a free health clinic in Buffalo, New York found that respondents with insufficient perceived social support were the most likely to suffer from mental health disorders like anxiety and depression.

Help you Live Longer: Research has shown that social connections not only impact your mental health, but your physical well-being as well. A review of 148 studies (308,849 participants) indicated that the individuals with stronger social relationships had a 50% increased likelihood of survival. This remained true across a number of factors, including age, sex, initial health status, and cause of death.

Decrease your Risk of Suicide: There are a variety of factors that can either increase or decrease your risk for suicide. Boost your chances of staying safe by raising your level of connectedness, which the Center for Disease Control (CDC) defines as “The degree to which a person or group is socially close, interrelated or shares resources with other persons or groups.” Relationships can play a crucial role in protecting a person against suicidal thoughts and behaviors.

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Kindness Works ~ The Benefits of Being Kind

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Benefits of kindness and compassion

Small acts of kindness can have enormous power for both the person being kind and the recipient, whether that’s a stranger or someone in the same family. Many studies have found that kindness, compassion and giving are associated with:

    • improved happiness
    • good mental health
    • a stronger immune system
    • reduced anxiety, stress and depression
    • improved relationships
    • a longer life

Research also shows that the happiness people get from giving to others creates a ‘positive feedback loop’. The more you give, the more positive you feel. This, in turn, fuels greater happiness.

People who witness or benefit from someone’s kindness and compassion are also more likely to be kind themselves.

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Kindness Works ~ Kindness Makes a Difference

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Being Kind to One Another

While it may seem easier to be kind to the people we know, we also carry the ability to show kindness to someone new. We never know what others are dealing with and our generosity, support, or small act of kindness may go a long way. 

Kindness doesn’t always have to include dramatic gestures of care. Simply being polite, using a warm tone, giving a smile, or showing patience or gratitude to a stranger can be enough. 

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Some ideas:

  • Make it easy for someone to get on the highway.
  • Toss the cashier a smile and tell him/her thank you.

 

Today’s Poem ~ Life is a Journey

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Life is a Journey

Rabbi Alvin I. Fine

Birth is a beginning
and death a destination
And life is a journey:
From childhood to maturity
and youth to age;
From innocence to awareness
and ignorance to knowing;
From foolishness to desecration
and then perhaps to wisdom.
From weakness to strength or
from strength to weakness
and often back again;
From health to sickness
and we pray to health again.
From offense to forgiveness
from loneliness to love
from joy to gratitude
from pain to compassion
from grief to understanding
from fear to faith.
From defeat to defeat to defeat
until looking backwards or ahead
We see that victory lies not
at some high point along the way
but in having made the journey
step by step
a sacred pilgrimage.
Birth is a beginning
and death a destination
And life is a journey;
A sacred journey to life everlasting

 

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Kindness Works ~ Why Choose Kindness?

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A Good Reason to Be Kind

Across many studies, kindness has been linked to greater well-being. For example, research has looked at spending money on others as well as practicing random acts of kindness as two common ways that people can increase happiness through kindness. Importantly, the benefits of kindness don’t seem to depend on who we give our kindness to—being kind to strong ties, weak ties, and self have equally positive effects on happiness (Rowland & Curry,  2019). Indeed, a growing consensus in the happiness field suggests that kindness may just be the best way to increase happiness.

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Want to be happier? Make kindness part of your day.

Kindness Works ~ Kindness Leads to a Better World

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Imagine a world where you can succeed by being nice.
Where we all pay it forward.
Where people look out for each other.
It all starts with an act.

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What small act of kindness will you do today?

Today’s Photo ~ Cheers – Make it a Great Day!

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Cheers to you! Here’s hoping your day is filled to overflowing with good health, good news, good friends, and heaps and heaps of love.

 

 

 

 

 

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Kindness Works ~ A Smile is a Kind Act

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Make Friends with Everyone, Even for a Moment

It may seem unimportant, but a smile and a little sincere small talk goes a long way. Whether I’m at the grocery counter or picking up takeout, I make an effort to keep my phone in my pocket, look the clerk in the eye, and strike up a little conversation. Meeting someone’s gaze makes us more subtly aware that they’re a whole person in their own right, and it lets them know that we see them that way.

In a sense, every time we don’t look someone in the eye as we move through the mundane parts of our day, we’re losing an opportunity to see and be seen as a relatable, valuable human being with a sense of shared identity. It’s important to note that individuals with neurodivergent conditions like autism may have difficulty with eye contact, and that’s OK too.

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Kindness Works ~ Want to Be Happy? Be Kind

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Being Kind Boosts Happiness

In the UK, researchers found that being kind could boost happiness in as little as three days. The study assigned people to three groups: the first group had to do an act of kindness each day; the second group tried a new activity; and the third group did nothing. The groups who were kind and did novel things saw a significant boost in happiness.

Spreading kindness isn’t complicated.

You’ll experience even greater joy if you’re creative with your acts of kindness. Happiness researchers Sonja Lyubomirsky and Kennon Sheldon found that people who did a variety of acts of kindness throughout the week showed greater increases in happiness than those who performed the same activity over and over again. And here’s the good news: It seems acts of kindness can be anonymous or visible, spontaneous or planned, and can be as simple as giving a compliment or opening a door for someone.

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Kindness Works ~ Kind Acts Benefit Everyone

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Kind Acts are a Win-Win

Spreading kindness not only helps others feel better about themselves — it can also boost the giver’s health and happiness, according to research. It’s a win-win for all. Putting the well-being of others before our own without expecting anything in return — or what is called being altruistic — stimulates the reward centers of the brain, studies have shown. Those feel-good chemicals flood our system, producing a sort of “helper’s high.” Volunteering, for example, has been shown to minimize stress and improve depression.

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