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Quote of the Week
"Unexpected kindness is the most powerful, least costly, and most underrated agent of human change." - Bob Kerrey
Three Strategies For Bringing More Kindness Into Your Life
"One of the best ways to increase our own happiness is to do things that make other people happy. In countless studies, kindness and generosity have been linked to greater life satisfaction, stronger relationships, and better mental and physical health—generous people even live longer.
What’s more, the happiness people derive from giving to others creates a positive feedback loop: The positive feelings inspire further generosity—which, in turn, fuels greater happiness. And research suggests that kindness is truly contagious: Those who witness and benefit from others’ acts of kindness are more likely to be kind themselves; a single act of kindness spreads through social networks by three degrees of separation, from person to person to person to person.
But just because we have the capacity for kindness, and reap real benefits from it, doesn’t mean that we always act with kindness. We may be too busy, distracted, or wrapped up in our own concerns to pay close attention to others’ needs or actively seek out opportunities to help. Or we’re just out of practice: Researchers have argued that kindness is like a muscle that needs to be strengthened through repeated use.
How do we strengthen kindness? Researchers have identified a number of effective exercises, and many of them are collected on the Greater Good Science Center’s new website, Greater Good in Action (GGIA), which features the top research-based activities for fostering happiness, kindness, connection, and resilience." Keep reading to discover three strategies to effectively strengthen you and your family's kindness muscles. [Read Article]
Reading Corner
 Title: Kindness: The Little Thing that Matters Most
By: Jaime Thurston
Ages: For the Family!
"Kindness – the little thing that matters most aims to motivate and inspire by showing readers what a difference even a small act of kindness can make.
It uses the voices of those who have been helped by the author’s charity – 52 Lives – to ground the ideas in real life action. The book is themed around 52 simple actions you can do to spread kindness. Interspersed throughout are nuggets of science explaining the positive effect kindness has on the brain and on the heart. This book is a call to action for people to live a more connected, fulfilling life. With inspirational quotes and personal stories this book will give you all the motivation you need to start spreading a little kindness – it’s free afterall!" -- Reviewer
Recommended by Kindful Editors
Be The Change
Make a family kindness jar with 52 acts of kindness, one idea for every week in the year! Encourage everyone to contribute ideas and write them on slips of paper. Each week, take turns drawing kindness ideas and doing them as a family. If you need ideas, here are a few collections of 52 ideas ready to go: Collection 1 - Collection 2 - Collection 3 .
We all know that micro habits are a great way to shift our mindset long-term and adopt new positive actions into our lives, so why not start now with small acts of kindness as a family!
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