November 13th is world kindness day; a day to remember that kindness and compassion is what brings us all together. Being kind costs us almost nothing but it could be everything to another person. Kindness can spread in a community the same way negative feelings can, however kindness brings about positive changes while negativity can destroy a community.
Kindness, trust, and happiness all go hand in hand, one leads to the other. Without trust and a feeling of community a person can feel socially isolated. Social isolation increases anxiety and depression and can lead to paranoia or general bad thoughts about others. Social isolation is also detrimental to the brain, decreasing brain mass, which is associated with dementia. Furthermore negativity spreads more easily than positivity because our minds actually spend more time processing negative information. The opposite is true for positivity, people who are well connected to their community report better quality of life and overall happiness.
People tend to underestimate how important kindness in a community is, which puts less importance on pro-social behaviors being fostered in their community. People also underestimate just how big of an impact being kind and supporting others in their community positively affects their community as a whole. One small act of kindness may make the person doing the giving feel good but the person on the receiving end gets a much larger boost to happiness and feelings of importance in their community. This is associated with positive effects in brain structure, lower risk of dementia, and lower likelihood of anxiety and depression. When people are happy pro-social behaviors spread; the same way an angry person can ruin your day a person who helps you when you need it most can absolutely make your week.
A choice we can all make every day is either to spread positivity or negativity. Whatever you put out into the world is what you will get in return and determines how the world will change around you. We can either have a kind, happy and trustworthy community, or one filled with anxiety, paranoia, and depression. Both are self reinforcing loops – we can all decide which loop we want to be a part of.
“We live in a world in which we need to share responsibility. It’s easy to say ‘It’s not my child, not my community, not my world, not my problem.’ Then there are those who see the need and respond. I consider those people my heroes.” – Mr. (Fred) Rogers
This is our community, our country, our world; make it a place that we all would want to live.
Don’t wait start today! Choose to be kind and celebrate World Kindness Day!
If your world is currently filling with abuse and violence instead of kindness – let us help. Call 1-888-554-2501, anytime, day or night. An advocate is standing by to take your call.
https://www.randomactsofkindness.org/
References
Baumeister, R. F., Bratslavsky, E., Finkenauer, C., & Vohs, K. D. (2001). Bad is stronger than good. Review of general psychology, 5(4), 323-370.
Jasielska, Dorota. (2020) The Moderating Role of Kindness on the Relation between Trust and Happiness. Current Psychology: A Journal for Diverse Perspectives on Diverse Psychological Issues, vol. 39, no. 6, Dec. 2020, pp. 2065–73
Kumar, A., & Epley, N. (2022). A Little Good Goes an Unexpectedly Long Way: Underestimating the Positive Impact of Kindness on Recipients. Journal of Experimental Psychology: General. Advance online publication.
Viduani, A., Benetti, S., Martini, T., Buchweitz, C., Ottman, K., Wahid, S. S., Fisher, H. L., Mondelli, V., Kohrt, B. A., & Kieling, C. (2021). Social isolation as a core feature of adolescent depression: A qualitative study in Porto Alegre, Brazil. International Journal of Qualitative Studies on Health and Well-Being, 16(1)
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