On Monday, 13 November, annual Kindness Day was celebrated across the world. Created in 2010, the day is an initiative launched by Kindness UK with the goal of promoting kindness in society.
By having a dedicated 24-hour period focusing solely on kindness, it is hoped that kindness becomes a more common practice in people’s everyday lives.
World Kindness Day is celebrated across the globe, with hundreds of schools making kindness pledges and taking part in communal acts of kindness. With the world becoming increasingly more divided, the day attempts to promote unification through the common understanding and practice of kindness.
World Kindness Day came to Edinburgh when, as noted in The Student, Lothian Buses and Edinburgh Evening News teamed up to promote kindness through staff distributing free bus tickets, umbrellas and chocolates to passengers on buses and those waiting at bus stops.
World Kindness Day is a celebration of the good that being kind can do, not only to the recipient but also to the giver of kindness. It has been proven that acts of kindness can increase energy, raise serotonin levels and lower stress, anxiety and blood pressure.
So, the next time you’re feeling the stress of university or just the everyday stresses of life, giving kindness a go could be a new remedy.
It could be an act such as giving blood, donating time or money to charity or could simply be cleaning the kitchen without being asked or complimenting a friend.
Kindness is a fundamental part of human behaviour and, while often it can come easily and without thought, there are times when we become too absorbed in our own lives and it becomes too easy to forget what a ripple effect one act of kindness can make. A simple act of kindness can stick with a person, a moment that they can resort back to in moments of feeling low, unsure or insecure.
In a world where humanity often seems at a loss, a simple kind gesture can do the world of difference and we could all do with incorporating the message of World Kindness Day.
image: Lino9999 via Pixabay
