Kindness week

During the next week, we are going to promote Woori Kindness Week. What a great way to kick off the start to the year with raising awareness about acts of kindness and catching others doing an act of kindness. A small act of kindness can transform your day and lift your spirits. Winston Churchill said, “We make a living by what we get, but we make a life by what we give.” Little did Churchill know that there is actually scientific evidence to prove that by giving we do in fact increase the quality of our life. Giving to others gives the human race back the one commodity that we are in constant pursuit of – HAPPINESS!

Here are a few facts about kindness that you may not be aware of:

• People who give contributions of time or money are “42 percent more likely to be happy” than those who don’t give (- Harvard “Social Capital Community Benchmark Survey”).

• Studies have shown that spending on others feels better than spending on yourself. At Breakie Club on Tuesday a boy in grade 2 shared how he spent half of his birthday money on his brother because he wanted him to have something as well. How adorable!

• Giving has also been linked to the release of oxytocin, a hormone that induces feelings of warmth, euphoria, and connection to others. A dose of oxytocin causes people to give more generously, feel more empathy towards others and the best part is that the so called “symptoms” last up to two hours!

• Giving donations to charity has been proven to lead to activation in the ventral striatum, a brain region that’s commonly referred to as the reward centre.

• When a person gives, they catch a glimpse of just how amazing they are, the potential they have and they suddenly become filled with a sense of purpose.

• Engaging in acts of kindness produces endorphins, the brain’s natural painkiller.

• Kindness stimulated the production of serotonin. Serotonin heals your wounds, calms you down and makes you happy.

• Compassionate people have 23% less cortisol, the deadly stress hormone. We can all agree that life throw.