It's Time to Be Kind!

Welcome to my first official blog post on my random acts of kindness and compassion genius hour project! I'm excited you're here and interested in learning more about the impact that performing random acts of kindness has on our mental health. This is my driving question behind this project.

I’ve spent a lot of time online this week researching random acts of kindness/compassion. I’ve even started to accomplish a few random acts of my own. Initially my hope was that I would complete one act of kindness every day. Well that didn’t last! 🤦🏼‍♀️

I do have a couple of highlights I’d like to share from this last week though. Stand by… I’ll share those in a minute.

My hope with attempting this experiment is to reflect personally on the way that performing random acts of kindness makes me feel. I’m hoping to feel a shift of more positivity and joy in my day to day activities.

Is kindness contagious? I think it can be. I also think being kind is incredibly rewarding, especially when doing it anonymously. These are some of my thoughts, but I wondered today if there is any real research on this topic, so I began to search. Below are a few points I picked up online:

- Research shows that helping others can be beneficial to our own mental health. It can reduce stress, improve our emotional wellbeing and even benefit our physical health.

Mental Health Foundation (2022). Random Acts of Kindness [Website]. Retrieved from https://mhf.prod.acquia-sites.com/explore-mental-health/articles/random-acts-kindness

- When we practice random acts of kindness it can release neurochemicals that result in a sense of well-being, the “helper’s high”. The neural circuits that are involved in chemical ‘highs’ are the same ones activated by kindness. 

Luks, A., & Payne, P. (2001). The Healing Power of Doing Good. Lincoln, NE: iUniverse.com, Inc. Retrieved from https://www.psychologytoday.com/ca/blog/emotional-nourishment/201711/why-random-acts-kindness-matter-your-well-being

- Not only can random acts of kindness boost your happiness, these acts can actually have positive affects on your physical health as well. In a recent CNN article, Sandee LaMotte outlines in her writing that these acts can help to lower blood pressure and reduce pain.

LaMotte, Sandee. (2022, February 17). The Health Benefits of random Acts of Kindness [Website]. Retrieved from https://www.cnn.com/2022/02/17/health/random-acts-of-kindness-day-2022-wellness/index.html

All of these articles have been very encouraging and strongly support my thesis that Random Acts of Kindness can positively impact our mental health. 

Earlier this week I began to brainstorm ideas for the random acts I could personally complete in the coming weeks as a part of this project. I even found an app for my iPhone that suggests a random act of kindness to complete every day. The app is called ‘BeKind’ and so far the suggestions have been as simple as picking up the phone and calling someone you love, or leaving a note in a family member’s lunch box. 

On Monday, I woke up motivated to begin and I decided to attempt a random act that was a little outside of my comfort zone. I wrote thank recycling and garbage pick up people. I wasn’t home when they came by, but my husband was and send me a text that actually gave me a rush of adrenaline when I read it. Could it really be this simple? Could showing others a little extra love and kindness fill our hearts with a shot of joy? Knowing that you made someone else's really can make yours!

Moving forward I'm going to add specific items to my daily calendar to keep on task. The feeling of completing the acts of kindness is something I'm looking forward to feeling more this coming week!