The Importance of Kindness

I think we can all agree that this year has not presented us with the ‘normal’ that we are used to. It is unfortunate that we have not been able to engage in our daily lives in the way that we would like to. Celebrations, gatherings, sporting events and many other activities have either been cancelled completely or have looked very different for most of this year. We have needed to be very flexible, open minded and develop new ways of thinking in order to find the positive experiences.

Although we always try to seek the positives in life, many of us, adults and children alike, have struggled with our emotions and mental health through this challenging time. After some deep thought and reflection, the moments that I like to remember most from this year are those of kindness. A smile from a colleague, a note from a friend, a compliment. It has made me realise how simple, yet powerful an act of kindness can be in supporting and lifting up those around us. Below is a wonderful article that I came across, outlining the importance of kindness. Enjoy!

Sarah Kemp, 

Co-Ordinator Wellbeing & Aboriginal Education

The Importance of Kindness

Being kind can strengthen your relationships and sense of satisfaction in life.

Kindness is defined as the quality of being friendly, generous, and considerate. Affection, gentleness, warmth, concern, and care are words that are associated with kindness. While kindness has a connotation of meaning someone is naive or weak, that is not the case. Being kind often requires courage and strength. Kindness is an interpersonal skill. Science has shown that devoting resources to others, rather than having more and more for yourself, brings about lasting well-being.

There are different ways to practice kindness. One way to be kind is to open your eyes and be active when you see people in need. Do you notice when people could use a helping hand? A sense of community is created when people are kind to those who need help.Opening your eyes means noticing when others are suffering. A kind word, a smile, opening a door, or helping carry a heavy load can all be acts of kindness. Celebrating someone you love, giving honest compliments, sending an email thanking someone, telling someone how s/he is special to you, helping an elderly neighbour, taking a photo of someone and sending it to the person, sharing homemade food, refusing to gossip, and donating old clothing and things you don't need are all ideas about how to practice kindness. Kindness is a willingness to full-heartedly celebrate someone else's successes. Gottman's work shows that your response to someone's successes may determine more about your relationship than how you respond when times are difficult. Do you minimize the success, not pay attention to it, or bring up all the problems with the success? Kindness is to be openly happy for the other person.

Kindness is also about telling the truth in a gentle way when doing so is helpful to the other person. Receiving accurate feedback in a loving and caring way is an important part of a trusted relationship.

Kindness includes being kind to yourself. Do you treat yourself kindly? Do you speak gently and kindly to yourself and take good care of yourself?

There are many ways to be kind and many opportunities to practice. Perhaps kindness is a value that could add more satisfaction to and strengthen your relationships.

Karyn Hall Ph.D.

Pieces of Mind