November 13th is World Kindness Day.
Kindness is defined by doing something towards yourself and others, motivated by genuine desire to make a positive difference It can boost our mental health and wellbeing.
How can Kindness help?
Kindness helps us feel more connected to other people. It helps to release feel good hormones. It boosts our serotonin, the neurotransmitter responsible for feelings of well-being and satisfaction. Endorphin levels also rise plus it releases oxytocin which increases our feelings of love. Negative feelings are lessened.
Kindness helps to lower anxiety by showing compassion to others, it can help us to be more productive and feel more optimistic about the future.
Kindness lowers stress levels by helping others as it takes us out of our own mind and can potentially help to build relationships with other people which then improves our feelings of confidence and self-esteem.
How Can You Show Kindness?
These days, we are so often wrapped up in our own lives, that we don’t seem to take the time to stop and help others or even notice what’s going on. Kindness is not something that demands hard work or huge amounts of time. It’s something all of us can make the effort to achieve every day in some way.
Kindness at any level helps others as well as yourself. It can be as simple as opening a door for someone, giving up your seat for someone else on public transport, sending an upbeat text message to a friend that needs it. Even thanking a motorist for letting you out …… it makes you feel good, and then you feel good when someone thanks you.
Sea Sanctuary have made a list of 101 acts of kindness you can do, here, to help inspire you on World Kindness Day and beyond.
During our hypnotherapy sessions, we talk about the importance of the 3P’s; positive interaction, positive action and positive thinking. Kindness falls firmly into our 3P’s.
Knowing that the power of kindness is so beneficial both for ourselves and for the receiver, why wouldn’t you want to help others more?
Photo by Simon Ray on Unsplash