Did you know that when we regularly act with kindness, our level of happiness is more likely to increase? A recent study by Rowland and Curry (2019) focused on how people felt after observing or performing acts of kindness for seven consecutive days.
Participants’ level of happiness was measured before and after the study. They were instructed to carry-out an extra kindness act than usual each day. The researchers found that being kind to oneself, especially when things are not going well, being kind to others, or even observing acts of kindness boosted happiness!
Last week, as part of our Positive Education program, students and staff of Kildare College were invited to take on a daily kindness challenge. The challenges were:
Every day during lunch time, students were invited to participate in a range of activities in the Resource Centre; these included creating Random Acts of Kindness cards; making kindness themed bookmarks, and creating kindness mood boards. A special ‘thank you’ to Emma Gay for organising the activities.
The Positive Education Student Group, with assistance from Laura Kretschmer, have created beautiful Kildare Kindness Cards, each one containing a special message. Students and staff are encouraged to sprinkle some Kildare Kindness by giving someone a card to acknowledge their kindness. The recipient of the card is also encouraged to enact their own good deed to brighten someone else’s day and help the Kildare Kindness ripple grow! May we all take time during the busyness of our daily lives, to act with kindness because it really does make a positive difference to our wellbeing.
In Kindness
Glenn Clifford
Director of Wellbeing
