Kindness - A Wellbeing Superpower!
Did you know that kindness and doing kind acts can help our wellbeing and mental health?
Scientists have done experiments to prove it works!
Being kind and giving to others is one of the Five Ways to Wellbeing and a bit of superpower as well!
There are so many ways to be kind as part of our everyday lives. Kindness needn’t take much time or cost any money.
Small acts like a smile or a compliment or holding a door open for someone can make a big difference in their day.
Ideas for simple acts of kindness
- Smile at someone when you are out and about
- Share something you are good at. you could show someone how to get better a game you are really good at.
- Send a 'happiness card' or a silly gif to someone you haven't seen for a while
- Check in with, or listen, to a friend
- Hold a door open for someone you don't know
- Try to do three kind acts each day. Remember they don't have to be big!
- Be kind to the planet. Join a beach clean or change one thing you do for a greener alternative.
- Include someone in a game or activity
- Let someone go first in a queue
- Paint, rocks with positive or inspiring messages and leave for others to find
- Tell someone a fun fact or your favourite joke
Don't forget to be kind to yourself!
It’s important to be kind to yourself as well. Take Time for You so you can relax and do the things you enjoy.
Check out the self-care ideas in our wellbeing toolkit.
Why not have a go at the Kindness Challenge? ANCHOR
Empathy
Empathy is being able to understand how someone else feels.
- when you feel an emotion with someone, even if you're not in the same situation.
- when you see things from someone else's perspective.
Empathy is the ability to understand how someone else is feeling or to understand the situation they are in. Sometimes it is described as the ability to “put yourself in someone else’s shoes” and to understand the way a situation might make them feel.
Empathy is different from sympathy. Empathy is walking a mile in someone else's shoes; sympathy is feeling sorry that their feet hurt.
Empathy can be difficult. It is often difficult to see another person's point of view, especially when out own own emotions are triggered and get in the way of our thinking skills. Empathy is something that is linked to kindness and helping others.
Gratitude and 3 Good Things
Showing gratitude (being thankful) is a good way of staying positive; coping with stress and self-care. It is not just about saying thank you (to your aunty for hand-knitted socks for Christmas, again"!). It is taking a moment to look for things each day that we can feel good about.
3 Good Things
At the end of each day, think about three good things that happened.
They don't have to be big or important things.
Why do you feel thankful for those things?
You could write them down in a small notebook or on slips of paper and keep them in a self-care box or a gratitude jar.
It can be good to go back sometimes and look at what you've written. It can be a boost when you are feeling down.
What Are Glimmers?
Glimmers are tiny moments of calm, connection, safety and joy!
Glimmers are things we notice, however briefly, that help us feel safe, at ease, and more like ourselves... They can be things that make us smile (inside or out), stop for a moment to enjoy some unexpected or remind us to take take a deep breath and carry on.
- A kind smile from a friend
- The warmth of sunlight through a window
- Hearing a favourite song
- Stroking a pet
- A moment of quiet with a trusted adult
- That feeling as you hit or kick a ball when you just know you've connected perfectly and the shot you've made is perfect
- The moment a wave breaks against the shore
- Noticing a pattern created in nature
Glimmers work! They are part of the brain science linked to helping us feel calm and regulated and are the opposite of things that might trigger us to 'flip our lid'!
Start Now! Practice looking out for glimmers - the more you practice, the more you'll notice and they'll become a powerful part of your wellbeing everyday.