Why Log Acts of Kindness? Inspiration!

Every day we hear about all the people taking part in the Kindness Challenge and all the kindness being spread. So why so few acts of kindness being logged?

You’re humble, that's why:

“It’s just normal for me to say “hi” or hold the door open or ‘pay-it-forward’ at the coffee shop. I’d only log an act of kindness if it was a really special one.”

And that’s OK. We’ve said it before: the real goal isn’t about how many acts of kindness get logged. It’s about creating a better world through each individual act. Making a difference.

But you might find some of the research interesting.

Acts of Kindness: More variety in a shorter time

Sonya Lyubomirsky, professor of psychology at University of California-Riverside, is a leading researcher on "positive psychology." In her book, The How of Happiness: A Scientific Approach to Getting the Life You Want, she found that ---besides the known benefits of kindness (improved health, sense of vigor, stress reduction, etc) -- the key to getting the most out of your acts of kindness?

1. The greater the variety of kind acts the better - committing a wide variety of kind acts has a greater impact than doing the same thing over and over again.

And how about this?

Counting your acts of Kindness Makes you Kinder?

A 2006 study out of Japan published in the Journal of Happiness Studies found people became even more kind and grateful if they counted the number of times they were kind in a day. Counting kindness? Like we're logging kindness?

Researchers asked participants to become more aware of their kind behavior by tracking it every day for a week. Research showed that if you count the kindness you do for others, you become more kind and grateful. Another positive psychology expert, put it well: "Doing 5 acts per day changed the way I spend the whole day because I have to keep looking for opportunities to be kind." (Ben Dean, Ph.D. "Kindness and the Case for Altruism")

My guess is the power is in the awareness and the intention. If you're consciously tracking the kindness you do, you're actually looking for opportunities to extend kindness, rather than just happening upon opportunities.

And like exercise, do the same thing over and over, your body memorizes the action and you hit a plateau. Shake things up and do something different, you burn more calories. Sharing kindness in new and different ways infuses energy into your actions, which in turns has a stronger impact on you. The result: you're happier and reach out even more in kindness. What a great cycle to be in!

So this week, try something new!