Counsellor and Well-Being 

Random Acts of Kindness

The society we live in at the moment can be so focused on individual success, climbing the corporate ladder, striving for a better financial position and recognition by others for our educational or professional achievements. While it is definitely important to strive for success in life it is also really helpful to set some time aside for our personal wellbeing.

One thing that has been found to have a contribution to our sense of wellbeing is engaging in random acts of kindness. Studies have shown that devoting resources to others, both emotional and physical, rather than keeping them to ourselves brings about a sense of long-lasting well-being. As well as this, research from neuroscience suggests that the psychological rewards of kindness are reflected in the neural circuitry of the brain; showing areas associated with pleasure “lighting up” significantly when people engage in voluntary acts of charity (Harbaugh et al 2007). This study also found that activity in areas of the “moral processing” regions of the brain was much higher in those who were involved in charitable acts such as volunteering in their normal lives. According to authors of the study, this research suggests that practicing moral behaviour such as being kind and giving to others strengthens the connection between the “moral” and “reward” centres of the brain making it more likely that engaging in acts of kindness will feel good in the future. The message that we can take from this is that we are wired to feel pleasure in giving to others, that being kind, compassionate and empathetic actually helps us to feel a sense of warmth and wellbeing.

So my question to everyone is; Who have you been kind to today? Here are some suggestions of random acts of kindness. Why not do yourself a favour and give one of these a go? It just might help improve your sense of positive wellbeing as well as someone else's.

10 suggestions for random acts of kindness: 

Smile at someone you don’t know.

Ask three people how their day is going.

Write a message/note to someone you care about to let them know you admire them.

Pick up some rubbish as you walk past it (cause we can also be Kind to the earth).

Offer to help out a friend or family member with a task.

Spread some positive energy on social media

Invite someone new into your social group

Let someone in front of you when lining up for something eg; supermarket, canteen.

Verbally show encouragement to colleagues or peers.

Make someone laugh!!

I look forward to seeing you all engage in random acts of kindness and hope these will contribute in strengthening our school community. 

References

Harbaugh, W. Mayr, U. & Burghart, D. (2007) Neural Responses to Taxation and Voluntary Giving Reveal Motives for Charitable Donations. Science 316 pp 1622-1625.

Simon-Thomas E. (2008) Is Kindness Really It’s Own Reward? Greater Good Magazine.

greatergood.berkeley.edu/article/item/is_kindness_really_its_own_reward