How Your Brain Benefits From Kindness
Today is World Kindness Day!
We could all use a little more kindness. Today, November 13th, the entire world is united through acts of kindness and compassion.
Research shows even small acts of kindness can make a big difference in our happiness and well-being. You probably don't need me, or a social scientist to tell you that. Yet, when faced with worry, stress, and uncertainty we can become socially myopic, withdrawn from others and impatient. World Kindness Day is a gentle reminder to do what's easy but sometimes hard to remember when faced with day-to-day challenges. The benefits? As you help to make a kinder world (or workplace, neighborhood or home) you're mental state and emotional energy will improve too.
Engaging in pleasentries and sharing eye contact with strangers raises levels of happiness for us and the stranger. Engaging with strangers requires more effort and intention when we are masked and socially distanced. But something as simple as a "good morning," a "thank you" or practicing patience with others can help ease everyone's stress.
Gratitude, kindness and appreciation can change our brains for the better.
A decade of research shows that kindness at work improves performance. When we extend an act of kindness towards our colleagues, everyone's motivation improves. Self-worth and feelings of accomplishment increase. Kind acts at work help both the giver and receiver de-stress and cope.
We can train ourselves and others to be kinder and more compassionate. Studies from the Center for Healthy Minds found that when people engaged in compassion training for just two weeks, for 30 minutes each day, they could see measurable impacts on their brains and they became more altruistic. Kindness meditations can change the mind's habitual thought patterns and improve immune response. Here's 12 Compassion Training Exercises from Postive Psychology.Com. Try one today!
How do we receive a kind act? Do we respond in kind? Do we appreciate it? We can use the mind to train the brain for appreciation. In this 6 minute video author Rick Hanson Ph.D. provides 3 ways we can overcome negativity and take in the good.
How can each of us make a difference in our world through kindness? Author and researcher Jamil Zaki challenges us to "fight for kindness" with empathy in his book The War for Kindness.
Want to know more about how to increase your kindness, optimism and happiness? Contact The Ei Coach for individual or workplace emotional intelligence training and learn simple skills you can start to practice today. www.theeicoach.com