World Kindness Day reminds us that small acts can make a big difference. Experts say kindness boosts mental health, reduces stress and strengthens social connections.
Thursday is World Kindness Day. People celebrate it by performing acts of kindness which can range from something simple like giving a person a parking space, to volunteering, to sending a note or calling a friend.
The legendary musician Glen Campbell was singing about kindness during the turbulent late 1960s when the country was politically polarized and split by the Vietnam War. Then, he wrote and performed the hit “Try a Little Kindness.”
“You’ve got to try a little kindness. Yes, show a little kindness. Yes, shine your light for everyone to see. And if you’ll try a little kindness and you’ll overlook the blindness. Of the narrow-minded people on the narrow-minded streets,” Campbell sang in the 1969 classic.
A D.C.-area psychologist believes in these polarizing times, kindness can have a very positive impact on our lives.
MedStar Health psychologist Dr. Heather Hartman-Hall says we live in an increasingly negative world, dominated by social media, and that makes being kind to others and ourselves a little harder.
“In many ways, it actually makes us feel disconnected to each other as human beings, as we’ve lost more talking to each other,” she said. “There is a kind of natural instinct to turn inward rather than to feel more open and connected to other people.”
Hartman-Hall said studies show practicing kindness, whether it is in the form of compassion or gratitude, can boost serotonin and dopamine levels in your brain.
“There’s also a lot of difficult things going on in the world that are polarizing people to feel like there’s kind of one side or another side,” she said. “People are more stressed. And when we’re stressed, we tend to kind of get into a little bit of a survival mentality, where it’s a little bit more me, against you, us against them.”
Acts of kindness can benefit mental health, with research showing they can help alleviate depression and anxiety, improve workplace well-being and enhance social connection.
“It helps build connections. It helps us feel more like human beings interacting with other human beings,” she said. “In the mental health field, we know the importance of connection with other people and kindness is a great way to start.”
Hartman-Hall adds that kindness is contagious.
People who received acts of kindness are more likely to be generous themselves. Her suggestion is to pay it forward at a coffee shop, call a friend or relative you haven’t spoken with in a while or give someone a compliment.
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