Hi again friends,
I hope everyone had some time to de-stress and relax during reading break! There are only about 3 weeks left till exams start so keep your head up and keep pushing forward!
Did you know that World Kindness Day is on November 13th? This day started back in 1998 and it now consists of over 25 participating nations! Pretty cool, eh? Kindness is such a great virtue because not only can you help someone by being kind, you can also improve your own well-being. This two-fold relationship is powerful because if you ever find yourself down and out, you can carry out random acts of kindness to uplift your mood! Soul Pancake did a study in the video below that started out by measuring participants’ baseline happiness levels. They then had participants perform 5 random acts of kindness in one day, such as giving food to those in need, complimenting random strangers, and helping shoppers carry their groceries in a parking lot. After completing these random acts of kindness, participants finished off by calling one particular person in their life that needed some encouragement or kind words to improve their well-being.
As you probably guessed, at the conclusion of the experiment, the results showed an average 9 % increase in happiness, with the highest person increasing their happiness by 22%. I know World Kindness day falls on Friday the 13th this year and we all know how this is supposed to be bad luck. Instead of being superstitious, lets all try and do 5 random acts of kindness on campus this Friday for World Kindness Day. Compliment a fellow student about their shoes, pay for someone’s drink at the Biblio, email an old professor or TA about the impact they had on you, or buy your friend lunch. You get the idea; your act of kindness does not have to be too elaborate as it is the thought that counts. I am sure you will feel great after doing these small acts of kindness on Friday and it would be even better if we continued to make these random acts of kindness something we always do for those around us.
In spirit of World Kindness day, the UVic Student Mental Health leaders will be going around campus handing out gifts with free coffee cards and Cinecenta movie tickets! I hope your World Kindness Day is filled with lots of fun and joy this Friday.
Until next time folks
The views expressed in this blog are my own, and do not necessarily reflect the policies or views of the University of Victoria. I monitor posts and comments to ensure all content complies with the University of Victoria Guidelines on Blogging.