Kindness is often dismissed as a "soft, fluffy, wishy-washy thing," but it is, in fact, absolutely fundamental to how human beings connect and cooperate. For many, being kind is considered part of the very purpose of being alive, and acts of kindness are needed now more than ever in a world often overwhelmed by negativity.
The Paradox of Personal Benefit
One of the great paradoxes of kindness is that acts intended to benefit others also yield significant positive consequences for the self. Scientific studies show that when people perform kind acts, the reward pathways in their brain are activated, corresponding to a measurable boost in well-being and a "warm glow around your heart and tummy." This is crucial, as the relationships required for successful cooperative work are founded upon these basic social connections.
Inspired by a terrifying moment during the 2011 London riots—a spectacle of civil unrest that created a sense of despair—one individual set out on a "foolhardy notion": to perform an act of kindness for a stranger every single day for a year. This year-long challenge proved to be heartwarming, occasionally terrifying, and sometimes physically hazardous (like carrying heavy shopping for four miles), but it was completely life-transforming, creating a daily feeling of exhilaration and high.
Challenging the Narrative of Success
Human beings have a predisposition for both kindness and significant unkindness, with the surrounding environment making a huge difference in which tendency prevails. Society needs to challenge the stories that portray kindness as weak and redefine the narrative of success.
Currently, success is often associated with dominant, wealthy, or highly visible celebrity figures. The conversation must shift to embrace the idea that being successful genuinely involves positive relationships with other people.
The ripple effect of kindness has been proven on a larger scale. A simple idea to connect elderly people who had no contact outside their care home walls with children dancing grew into a project that reached over 250 schools and 250 care homes, positively impacting thousands of people. Witnessing the immense kindness people are capable of, particularly during times of crisis, shows how much we yearn to help one another.
Institutionalizing Kindness
Kindness cannot simply be mandated by telling people to be kind. Instead, we must change our environment so that kindness feels like the norm.
The most effective way forward is to see institutions—businesses, schools, hospitals, and all public services—adopt a Kindness Manifesto. This manifesto would require them to incorporate the question, "Is this kind?" into their daily decision-making processes. This would normalize kindness, making it an ordinary part of the conversation at every level of every organization.
The biggest personal lesson gained is to embrace the fact that every single day, we can do something small to contribute. That "thing" might just be a smile or a simple "good morning." When you carry out a good deed, it increases the chance that the recipient will carry out kind deeds to others, creating a virtuous circle.
Kindness, the "small stuff," may actually be the big stuff. These small acts, like a beach filled with a billion grains of sand, create an environment that enables people to feel good, work together, and take on the world’s biggest challenges. Recognizing the beautiful humility in knowing that you can contribute at any point of any day is how we change the world.
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