“No act of kindness—no matter how small—is ever wasted.” -Aesop
February may be the shortest of all the months, but with two separate days dedicated to helping others feel special, it certainly seems like the nicest. Just three days after Valentine’s Day celebrates the beauty of romantic love, Random Acts of Kindness Day comes along on February 17th and encourages charity.
Though the day may seem like an appeal to selflessness and altruism, helping others is usually a mutually beneficial experience. Kindness tends to reward the giver as well as the recipient.
Being kind is good for everybody.
We’ve all heard that being nice to others makes you feel good, but did you realize science backs up that claim? According to researchers at Dartmouth College, simply seeing an act of kindness causes our bodies to produce oxytocin, a hormone that lowers blood pressure and increases optimism. If just observing kindness can improve our heart health and social outlook, imagine what can happen when we get involved!
Okay, I’m in. What do I do?
There are endless ways to be kind, but sometimes the myriad of options makes it hard to decide what to do. While randomness offers a world of freedom, it also leaves room for overthinking. To help you avoid analysis paralysis, we’ve come up with a few ideas for you to consider on Random Acts of Kindness Day:
Let the kindness begin.
Now, before any of us try to excuse ourselves from participating with rationalizations like “We should be kind EVERY day, not just once a year,” let’s remember that every perpetual motion needs a little nudge to get it started. Random Acts of Kindness Day 2018 may just be the friendly push we need.
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