Kindness is a trait which involves being pleasant and considerate towards others and their needs.

It does not only mean to be considerate, but to act in a way that benefits the other in a positive, energizing way. This year, February 17 was Random Acts of Kindness Day–an opportunity to continue the momentum of spreading love and care in the days after Valentine’s Day.

Practicing “Random” Kindness

There are many different acts of kindness you can practice. You can start your day with some small acts of kindness, like picking up and discarding any wayward trash you find on the streets of your neighbourhood. You can help your neighbours carry their bags of groceries from their car, shovel a snowy driveway for someone who cannot or does not have the time, and if someone new is moving into your neighbourhood, introduce yourself with a casserole dish or a dozen muffins!

“Random” acts of kindness don’t have to be completely random–for example, running out there to help the first person you see without asking and moving on to the next. But if you are met with an opportunity to assist someone, put in a kind word, pay it forward, or defend or advocate for someone in need.

It is important to note that acts of kindness in your neighbourhood aren’t just limited to the people who live in your neighbourhood. They can extend to the people who work in your community. Be kind to your mailman, your delivery driver, the barista you frequent the most when you need a coffee, and the trash disposal crew if you catch them swinging by. Kindness is not just about doing something to benefit one another, but to hold space and presence for others in the shared experiences we have living life each day.

Benefits

Acts of kindness can affect someone’s mental well-being greatly and have the potential of changing or enhancing the culture of your neighbourhood significantly. Your act of kindness can inspire someone else living in your neighbourhood to act kindly towards others–the snowball effect may multiply as more and more of your neighbours start participating in friendly activities within the neighbourhood. People may also become more aware of how to treat the workers in their neighbourhood. Thus, you participating in practising kindness could change your neighbourhood’s environment in the long term. As our Communications Director likes to put it:

Kindness is powerful, and fostering kindness is a gradual process that takes both deliberate action and internal contemplation. Kindness is like water, slowly eroding through dysfunctional systems and relationships until it flows so smoothly, one might forget they were stuck to begin with. If you don’t feel like you’re living in a kind world, your actions may be the catalyst needed to make it happen.

How Acting Kind Affects Your Well-Being

Practising acts of kindness towards others not only helps them in the moment, but affects you in the long term emotionally and physically. According to Post (2005), acting kind, and engaging in “other-regarding” behaviours can result in greater well-being, health, and longevity outcomes. As long as you’re not ‘overloading’ yourself with helping tasks, that ‘fuzzy feeling’ may be more beneficial for you in the long run. You can surprise that new neighbour with a dozen muffins, but don’t single-handedly take over running the food bank if you don’t have the time, energy and interest to do so.

A surprising effect of acting with intentional kindness is the power of kindness in reducing our own sensations of feeling unsafe, anxious, or threatened:

When someone acts with compassionate intention, it has a huge, huge positive effect on their physiology. It takes them out of the threat mode and puts them into the rest and digest mode. What happens when that occurs is it changes how they respond to events. Instead of a quick response, oftentimes based on fear or anxiety, it allows for a much more deliberative or discerning response which typically is much more effective, and more creative because it’s allowing your executive control area to function at its best.
Dr. James Doty (2017)

How You Can Incorporate Acts Of Kindness Into Your Lifestyle

Incorporating acts of kindness does not mean that you must make the biggest, grandest gestures of charity. Start small, hold the door open for the people behind you or even give an honest compliment (and we’ve have a great article for you to read about giving a good one!). Starting small will help you to integrate these acts of kindness into your daily routine eventually turning them into a habit.

Always remember, in a world where indifference can be the easier choice on a busy day, be that ray of sunshine that can part the clouds–for today, tomorrow, and untold days to come.

References

Doty, J. R. (2017). Into the Magic Shop: A Neurosurgeon’s Quest to Discover the Mysteries of the Brain and the Secrets of the Heart. Penguin Group USA.

Post, S. G. (2005). Altruism, happiness, and health: It’s good to be good. International journal of behavioral medicine, 12(2), 66-77.