Every year, the Random Acts of Kindness Foundation encourage us to celebrate RAK Day – a day to bring Random Acts of Kindness (RAKs) to mind, and think about how we can make the world a better place, one Random Act of Kindness at a time.
Why should we be encouraged to be kind to people we don’t even know? Human beings are wired for connection; we are social animals. Research suggests that we have a bigger dopamine-hit (the ‘happy’ hormone) when we carry out an act of generosity for someone else rather than for ourselves. This has been termed the ‘helper’s high’. You can read Dunn, Aknin and Norton’s research here on the benefits to the giver of pro-social spending. It shows that people who spend money on others reports more happiness than people who spend it on themselves, across the globe, and even in toddlers. Thy suggest that the benefits are most likely to emerge when the giving satisfies one of more of the core human needs, identified as relatedness, competence, and autonomy. Pro-social spending benefits the brain and the body, so there are physical benefits to spending money on others as well as it boosting our wellbeing.
We can use money to perform a Random Act of Kindness, such as giving a donation to a local charity, and by aligning the RAK to our need for relatedness, competence and autonomy, we can boost its positive impact on us, too. Let’s look at each of these in turn. Relatedness simply means our connection to our action, so for a RAK to give us our ‘helper’s high’ we could identify something that we feel connected to. For example, if we are animal lovers, we could donate to a local animal shelter or rescue centre. Competence means our ability to do something, and how confident we are in this. Here, our RAK could be that we enjoy creativity, so we could craft a ‘thank you’ card for a service-provider such as a lunch-club for people who are isolated. Autonomy is our ability to act in accordance with our own decisions rather than being controlled by anyone else. When thinking about RAKs, this is our decision-making about what RAK to perform. If we can align our RAK with all these aspects, we boost our own wellbeing and physical health.
Of course, RAKs don’t need to be financial. The RAK Foundation have some other suggestions. Another way for RAKs to boost our own wellbeing is to link them to our Character Strengths. If you are not sure what your character strengths are, you can click here to complete a survey. Utilising our character strengths can help improve our life and thrive. They can help improve relationships, enhance heath and overall wellbeing and help buffer against, manage and overcome problems. The VIA Classification of Strengths and Virtues was devised by Peterson and Seligman in 2004, two of the pioneers of Positive Psychology, the science of flourishing and a life well-lived.
The RAK Foundation have some suggestions for us:
Give a gift card: Get an envelope with a gift card to a locally-owned tea/coffee shop to a fiend with a note inviting them to take some time out and relax.
Be a kid again: Remember how proud you were of something you did as a child, and do it again!
Write a letter: Take five minutes to write a letter or card and mail it to some-one who isn’t’ expecting it. Put a stamp on it and post it- don’t text or email!
Sign up: See daily doses of self-care from the RAK Foundation by following them on social media; go to their website for details
Let someone know: Think of someone who brings joy and happiness into your life. Call, text, or write to them and let them know their shine brightens your life
Keep it going! RAKs can be performed any day! Join the RAKtivists group and become part of the kindest community, for more tips and ideas of how to make kindness the norm.
The take-away? Doing good feels good! Find a way to spread kindness today, and boost your own happiness, too.
Sources:
Random Acts of Kindness Foundation www.randomactsofkindness.org
Dunn, Elizabeth, Aknin, Lara & Norton, Michael, 2014/02/03, “Prosocial Spending and Happiness: Using Money to Benefit Others Pays Off, volume 23 10.1177/0963721413512503, Current Directions in Psychological Science
Cambridge Dictionary online www.dictionary.cambridge.org
VIA Institute on Character https://viacharacter.org/
About Jane: Jane is a Wellbeing Consultant with a Master’s Degree in Applied Positive Psychology, the science of happiness, and is based in Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk, UK.
Jane is the founder of Adopting Positivity, a trading name of Autonomous Ideas Ltd., of which Jane is a Director. Jane is a Trustee for Home for Good, Suffolk, and an Adopter Voice Champion for Adoption UK.
Jane is co-founder and co-organiser of the Positive Psychology Summit:UK, a two-day In Real Life opportunity for Positive Psychology Practitioners to get together to learn, share and support each other, and host of online In Conversation events.
She is a fellow of the Positive Psychology Guild and an accredited Trainer. Autonomous Ideas Ltd and the Positive Psychology Summit:UK are organisational members.
#PositivepPychology #psychology #happiness #RAK #MakeKindnessTheNorm #RandomActsOfKindnessDay #RAKDay #HelpersHigh #DoingGood #VIACharacter #CharacterStrengths #Kindness #Strengths #Raktivists