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Culture September 7, 2017
Kill 'em with kindness.
Doing something kind for someone truly makes a difference. For yourself and the other person.
World Kindness Day, celebrated on November 16th, is a day when kindness really goes the distance. And you know what? It’s great that we have a day to encourage more people to be kind because research shows that being kind can make you happier and more relaxed.
To celebrate this day, here’s everything you need to know about the benefits of being kind, World Kindness Day and why you should celebrate it.
World Kindness Day was established by the World Kindness Movement in 1997. The WKM’s goal is to unite nations together to make the world a kinder place. Countries such as Mexico and Japan are just two of the 28 nations that are part of the movement.
In Australia, seven days of the year are picked in honor of World Kindness Day. One of the events named “Feel Good Feb / Kindness is Catching” is held in February and it encourages people to go out and share the love.
Singapore also danced their way into kindness in 2014. Singapore Kindness Movement members participated in a flashmob at the mall. They continued two-stepping their way to kindness by passing out daisies with kind messages attached to them.
In a study done by Barbara Fredrickson from the University of North Carolina, 65 individuals participated in a study on meditation and stress. Half of the group was involved in an hour-long segment of “lovingkindness” meditation once a week for six weeks. This class involved focusing on warm and compassionate thoughts about yourself and others.
The people who participated in this proved to be calmer and healthier than the ones who didn’t participate.
“[This meditation] kind of [softens] your own heart to be more open to others,” Fredrickson explained to TIME. “The biggest news is that we’re able to change something physical about people’s health by increasing their daily diet of positive emotion, and that helps us get at a long-standing mystery of how our emotional and social experience affects our physical health.”
To experience these benefits, you can be kind to yourself with meditation and #treatyoself days, or you can be kind to other people.
While it won’t help you look like you’re forever 21, kindness can slow down the aging process. Dr. David Hamilton says that research shows that kindness helps keeps your vagus nerve in tip top shape.
“The vagus nerve, as well as regulating heart rate, also controls inflammation levels in the body. One study that used the Tibetan Buddhist’s ‘Loving Kindness Compassion’ meditation found that kindness and compassion did, in fact, reduce inflammation in the body, mostly likely due to its effects on the vagus nerve,” Dr. Hamilton shared on his website.
Research has also found that there is, indeed, a kindness hormone. The kindness gene or the “nice hormones” are oxytocin and vasopressin. In a study conducted at the University of Buffalo and the University of California, researchers found that at least 711 of people the people they had surveyed had a saliva sample that contained one or both of these hormones.
“These ‘nicer’ versions of the genes allow you to overcome feelings of the world being threatening and help other people in spite of those fears,” Michael Poulin of the University of Buffalo said to Telegraph.
New Zealand is not home to just rugby. Apparently, it is the home of the friendliest locals as well.
According to Forbes, in 2012, New Zealand achieved a high ranking of having four kind attributes. Travelers found it the easiest place to befriend locals, to learn the local language and assimilate into the culture and community.
Of the people surveyed, 75 percent reported that they were adjusting well to living in the community. Foreigner Kim Brinster said that New Zealanders have the best hospitality and are, indeed, very kind.
“New Zealanders, as a whole, seem like happy people, and that translates into friendly, helpful and kind people,” said Brinister.
Random acts of kindness happen on the daily, but random acts of kindness by celebrities don’t. (Unless, of course, you’re Ellen DeGeneres. Or Oprah.) Legendary basketball player Shaquille O’Neal paid a visit to 12-year-old Brenden Adams who stands at 7 feet 4 inches tall.
Shaq wanted to help Brenden become more confident since people teased him for his height. In a clip posted on Oprah’s website, Shaq took Brenden to a restaurant where he was allowed to eat whatever he wanted and how much he wanted. Shaq also dressed him to the nines by hooking him up with his personal tailor.
Way to go, Shaq!
How are you going to celebrate World Kindness Day? Let us know in the comments below or tweet us at @entity_mag. And in the words of Aesop, “No act of kindness, no matter how small, is ever wasted.”
