We often hear the phrase that he or she is a kind-hearted person. One tends to remember someone by saying that he was a very kind person. Does this mean that the person was born with the trait or acquired it during his life? I don’t believe anybody’s born with a personality. Based on your experiences, acquired qualities, characteristics, or skills are learned or developed over time. They aren’t innate in not being born with them. Kindness and cooperation are more natural for human beings. There has been a common belief for a long time that “human existence” is overwhelmingly negative. Human beings, it has been believed, are highly inclined to characteristics such as egoism, conquest, and warfare. The prevalence of these qualities has led to people being kind and show kindness1 to humans as well as animals. Thomas Carlyle, a Scottish historian, says it right “A great man shows his greatness by the way he treats little men.”
What is Kindness?
It is a type of behavior marked by acts of generosity, consideration, or concerns for others, without expecting praise and reward. It is considered good and recognized as a value in many cultures and religions. Kindness also means that you treat and bestow everyone with the best that you can. No matter which strata of society people belong to or how you feel about them, you treat them with fairness and respect. We all think and say of beautiful things every day, but when we act, that is kindness.
If you add kindness to everything you do, the World can become a better place.
To be Kind means
- To be compassionate
- To care
- To give a helping hand.
It is mostly the tiniest of things that make the most significant impact—random acts of kindness. If I do ten deeds for some people, one will come back to me when I did not expect it.
We all have a day to go through, and if you can make that day a little better for someone else when you will try to do that, it will make you go through the day with a few more smiles than you would otherwise have.
A small or simple act of kindness can
- Can change someone’s entire day
- Put a smile on someone’s face
- Go a long way
Money and perishable goods are not the way to go. The helping gesture can come from anyone at any time, And it’s the little things that can mean so much. Because after all, we’re all in this together. We rise by lifting others.
It is mostly the smallest things that make the most significant impact. Random Acts of Kindness are pure good deeds you can do to make someone’s life and the community a better place without a second thought. A random act of kindness can be stated as any thoughtful, positive, spontaneous gesture you’ve done for a known or an unknown person, making their day brighter without expecting something in return. Taking out time to do these small acts of kindness can help form a peaceful and a much happier world where others feel the desire to do the same. Studies conducted by Dr. Rowland, Research Associate at the School of Anthropology and Museum Ethnography, University of Oxford, suggest that performing kindness activities for seven days increases happiness. You can’t go in the wrong direction when it comes to being kind to another person; kindness will never fall short.
A Random Act of Kindness Can Be:
- Giving someone your parking spot
- Helping someone who has a flat tire
- Give drinks to people on a hot day.
- Help a child or an older person cross the street.
- Spend a day at a homeless shelter
- Walk someone’s dog
- Make way for someone to go ahead of you
- Tell your parents you love them.
- Buy groceries for an elderly neighbor
- Babysit for free
- Help someone look for a job.
- Run or walk for a cause
- Pick up litter at the park.
- Drop off cookies at a friends house
- Help someone put groceries in their car.
- Send flowers to someone for no reason
- Make a music playlist for someone.
- Check-in with someone who’s sick
- Treat someone to a coffee or tea.
- And the list goes on.
Benefits of Random Acts of Kindness
According to research from Emory University, when you are kind to another person, you 2
- Increase happiness leading to a healthy heart
- Increase Energy
- Increase Life span
- Decrease Depression
- Decrease Stress
- Decrease Anxiety
- Decrease Pain
- Decrease Blood Pressure
- Slow down the aging process
- Improve relationships and connections, indirectly boosting your health.
Kindness strengthens the spirit and produces rewards. And service is a gift that everyone can afford. Always remember that there isn’t anything as a small act of kindness; every act of kindness creates a ripple with no end. The actions of service will not just benefit the person but also make you a better person.
Why is it Essential to Teach Kindness to Children
Kindness has a large number of physical and emotional benefits, and that children require a healthy dose of the warm and fuzzies to flourish as healthy, happy, well-rounded individuals. There are innumerable benefits.
- Happy children- Its proven that the feelings of joyfulness by doing acts of kindness are contagious, encouraging more good behavior by the giver and recipient.
- Increased peer acceptance-Kindness increases our ability to form meaningful connections with others, and children enjoy greater peer acceptance because they are well-linked.
- Improved health and less stress- Being kind can trigger a release of the hormone oxytocin, which has several physical and mental health benefits, increasing a person’s level of happiness and reducing stress.
- A better sense of belongingness and improved self-esteem: When we do a good deed, endorphins hormones get released that create a lasting sense of pride, well-being, and an enriched understanding of belonging.
- Increased feelings of Gratitude-When children are part of activities that help others less fortunate than themselves, it provides them a real sense of outlook and helps them appreciate the good things in their lives.
- Better concentration and enhanced results-Children having a positive outlook enable them to be more creative thinkers to produce better results.
- Less Bullying-The effects of bullying can significantly reduce by integrating kindness based programs in the school.
- Reduced depression-Act of understanding increases serotonin levels in both the giver and the receiver, making it an excellent natural antidepressant.
Why the World Needs More Kindness
Act kinder, and people will act more helpful in return. They’ll carry it forward to others, and the World will be a more loving place, and things will work better. It doesn’t mean bureaucracies will stop being bureaucracies, or that chaos won’t happen, but people will feel better about themselves.
Why Should You Share Your Story of Kindness
It would be best if you shared your story of compassion in the World. Because the miracle of service is that it’s contagious. No story is too small to share, and the impact of telling it can release an everlasting effect on people starting to pay it forward everywhere.
Do you consider yourself a kind person? How do you judge kindness in others – by how they act or the general vibe they give off? Do certain situations elicit compassion, or is it a trait you carry inside yourself no matter the circumstances? I hope you can get answers to these questions now, by far.
Dr. Jones, a researcher at North Carolina State University, states that kindness increases the quality of our life both at work and in the community4. It brings people together. Doing good for others feels good. Showing affection to others is just as rewarding as receiving it from someone else. Kindness in words creates confidence, in thinking creates profoundness and in giving creates love. When you do an act of kindness, blessings get showered on both the giver and the receiver.
References
- https://www.randomactsofkindness.org/the-science-of-kindness
- Lee Rowland & Oliver Scott Curry (2019) A range of kindness activities boost happiness, The Journal of Social Psychology, 159:3, 340-343, DOI: 10.1080/00224545.2018.14694614. Jones, A. (1998). Random Acts of Kindness: A Teaching Tool for Positive Deviance. Teaching Sociology,26(3), 179-189. Retrieved August 5, 2020, from www.jstor.org/stable/1318831.
