How kind are you? It’s a question most of us would like to answer ‘Very’ but can we?
Kindness, the quality of being friendly, generous, and considerate, according to Google. It sounds so simple but it’s one of those small things that goes a long way and so often gets missed.
It can start at home, with yourself. I don’t know about you but I’m my biggest critic. I am the first person to say yeah but I should have done this or that, I know but I should have this or that. We expect more from ourselves than anyone else ever does, indeed we expect more from ourselves than we do from every other person around us.
That doesn’t sound very friendly.
The more we show ourselves kindness, the easier we will find it to see kindness in others. Rather than saying I should have, try saying, I could have but I chose not to, or I could have but I didn’t want to. Whilst looking in the mirror, try being kind and complimenting yourself on how you look, no one is going to hear you apart from you and you are the person that needs to hear it the most.
It’s OK that you might be finding living under the cloak of a pandemic tough. Most of us are. That’s OK. Be kind to yourself and let yourself know that most people are finding it hard, our lives have been thrown upside down and it’s OK to be overwhelmed, scared, anxious, nervous, sad, lonely. If your friend told you they were feeling like that, what would you say to them? In fact, message them and ask them how they’re doing, that’s an act of kindness.
Be kind to yourself, like you would do to a friend.
So, as we say, a little kindness goes a long way and for those of you in the UK, you may well have found yourself drawing rainbows to put in your windows and clapping at 8pm on a Thursday evening to show our gratitude to the NHS. It is a tiny act of kindness to show thanks for the huge act of bravery that the NHS are doing for us every day. Search #randomactsofkindness on Twitter and it fills your heart!
There’s an entire organisation called Random Acts of Kindness with some great ideas, see here so we know that Kindness is important to us identifying how we can thrive in our new normal.
Try reflecting on your day to determine who has been kind to you that day and who you have shown kindness too. That person that phoned you out the blue for a chat was kind. You research and sending a link over to a friend who wanted to buy a new TV because you saw one on offer – kindness – whatever it is, big or small, acknowledging and being thankful for kindness impacts our emotional and spiritual wellbeing.
It also improves our physical wellbeing too – all of the benefits right?! Check this out, it can reduce pain, depression, anxiety and blood pressure. All this and it makes us happier too. So, when you’re feeling anxious and your world might seem too much to deal with, try a small act of kindness and you might improve that feeling of control and feel calmer. Perpetually kind people have 23% less cortisol (the stress hormone) and age slower than the average population!
How can you build more kindness into your work? With your team or with your customers? What can you do that seems small but will make someone else’s face light up?
So maybe if we ask how kind we are in the future we can answer with ‘I try to be kind every day but there’s always room for more kindness in the world.’
We have already looked at movement and over the coming weeks, we will delve into energy, rhythm and connection – the 3 other areas of our Thrive Not Survive guide.
I want to Thrive not just Survive.
#ThrivenotSurvive
