Why is kindness so amazing?

Why is kindness so amazing?

Our Director of People and Development (and fan of kindness) Helen Smith, explores kindness on Random Acts Of Kindness Day

I love both giving and receiving random acts of kindness; that warm fuzzy feeling that it gives you and the feeling of care. And I agree with the focus of this years RAK day – that we should make kindness the norm!

I asked a few people what they thought kindness is and they said that kindness is doing something nice for someone and not expecting anything in return, putting other people first, a ripple that keeps on giving. Essentially it is just being aware of other people and doing something that will make them smile.

For the person on the receiving end of the kind act, some of the benefits are obvious, though there are times that we won’t even realise the depth of impact that the act has had. I remember once when I had gone out for a meal, a stranger came up to me and said, ‘You look amazing!’. It really took me by surprise and definitely made me smile, in fact it still makes me smile when I think about it and I’ve decided I will pay that compliment forward to other people when I think the same thing of them. It is also shown that people who receive random acts of kindness are more likely to do kind acts for others – therefore having a ripple effect and keeping the kindness going!

Although a random acts of kindness should be altruistic, there are actually benefits to the giver too. Being kind to others triggers feel good hormones in our brain and boosts both our mental and physical health. I think that humans are generally hard wired to be kind so I thought I would share with you some of the science behind it.

Research has found that when we do something kind, it triggers our brain to release a cocktail of feel good hormones that flood our body, the hormones are:

Oxytocin – often called the love hormone – it makes us feel more trusting, more generous and helps with social connectivity. It also helps to lower our blood pressure.

Dopamine – this is responsible for feeling pleasure and reward. It also helps us to feel motivated and helps our heart to beat strongly.

Serotonin – this hormone helps to regulate our mood, feelings, memory, appetite and digestion. It helps our body to balance itself.

The boost of these hormones is not long lived and so to get the most out of these benefits of being kind, we need to pepper kind acts through out our day, and to do that, we need to develop a habit of kindness.

Here are some ideas on how we can be kind:

• Give some one a smile
• Hold open the door for someone
• Give someone a genuine compliment
• Notice when someone has done something well and tell them!
• Make someone their favourite drink
• If something has not gone to plan, help the person to have some reflection time and see what they have learnt and see what it shows about their strengths.
• Notice if someone is feeling down and do something to give them a lift up
• If someone is feeling stressed, ask what you can do that would help
• Send a friend a lovely message and let them know that you appreciate them
• Do something kind for a stranger

When people are being kind it feels like the world is better connected and looking out for each other. So, I challenge us all to go out and put more acts of kindness into our days – and spread those ripples of kindness around!

Helen x

#MakeKindnessTheNorm

#RAKDay

#RandomActsOfKindessDay

#TeamBoo