Kindness is defined as the quality of being friendly, generous, and considerate. Affection, gentleness, warmth, concern, and care are words that are associated with kindness. While kindness has a connotation of meaning someone is naive or weak, that is not the case. Being kind often requires courage and strength. Kindness is an interpersonal skill.
There are different ways to practice kindness. One way to be kind is to open your eyes and be active when you see people in need. Do you notice when people could use a helping hand? A sense of community is created when people are kind to those who need help.
Kindness is also about telling the truth in a gentle way when doing so is helpful to the other person. Receiving accurate feedback in a loving and caring way is an important part of a trusted relationship. The courage to give and receive truthful feedback is a key component of growth and flexible thinking.
Kindness includes being kind to yourself. Do you treat yourself kindly? Do you speak gently and kindly to yourself and take good care of yourself? There are many ways to be kind and many opportunities to practice. Perhaps kindness is a value that could add more satisfaction to and strengthen your relationships.
Excerpts taken from the article The Importance of Kindness in Psychology Today by Karyn Hall, PhD
Practicing Kindness in a Trauma-Sensitive Classroom
Kindness means that we do not need to be fixed ourselves to be able to show kindness to others. Neither are we responsible for fixing anyone else’s lives or problems. Kindness to others comes from things that may seem very little or unimportant to us, but which may literally save lives.
Kindness means we listen to those who are hurting (including ourselves), with open hearts and minds — not judging, not trying to fix, not trying to change them, but simply being there, available and paying attention.
Kindness means we feel with those in pain — our own experiences may not have been exactly the same, but we have experienced things that are similar enough to allow us to feel of empathy. When we feel with someone — we are connecting at a deep level and little by little overcoming the sense of isolation.
Kindness means we respond to what we have heard and felt, with gestures that do not have to be large or complicated, but which are genuine and heartfelt. These are the things that are priceless and which will be remembered and will keep students going on the bad days.
Excerpts taken from the article Radical Kindness and Trauma by Giles Lascelle
We are currently focusing on a multi-lesson focus on Empathy, Kindness and Compassion with our SEL / Character Strong lessons. These lessons are about students giving and getting social support through putting Kindness into action. These lessons start by reminding students about the key ingredients that ensure empathy results in taking action to support others. Actively making the effort to understand what others are going through and who might really need what kind of support enables students to reach out in ways that make a difference… Below are more ideas for cultivating an Act of Kindness Practice
Cultivating an Act of kindness practice
Imagine the suffering of someone you know or met recently. Imagine again that you are that person, and are going through that suffering. Now imagine that another human being would like your suffering to end — perhaps your mother or another loved one. What would you like for that person to do to end your suffering? Now reverse roles: you are the person who desires for the other person’s suffering to end. Imagine that you do something to help ease the suffering, or end it completely. Once you get good at this stage, practice doing something small each day to help end the suffering of others, even in a tiny way. Even a smile, or a kind word, or doing an errand or chore, or just talking about a problem with another person. Practice doing something kind to help ease the suffering of others. When you are good at this, find a way to make it a daily practice, and eventually a throughout-the-day practice.
Excerpt taken from the article A Guide to Cultivating Compassion in Your Life, With 7 Practices by Leo Babauta
Trauma Informed Practices for Staff 