Kindness
Wills Memorial Library - Sonia Wassef
What did we do?
As an act of kindness for the students of Bristol, we made handwritten notes with kind messages and hid them in books in Wills Memorial library.
The notes included words of affirmation and encouragement in order to motivate whoever reads them.
This was a simple yet impactful task that will hopefully cheer up anyone’s day!
What is a Kindness?
A gesture motivated by genuine, warm feeling for others. Our act of kindness aimed to uplift any Bristol students in an environment that is likely to be quite stressful/ intense for them. Hopefully the gesture encouraged them to keep going!
The important thing is that kindness does not need to be a grand gesture. Our gesture was simple and quick, yet could potentially have a great impact on the recipient.
Benefits of Kindness
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Not only does our gesture benefit the students who receive the notes, the acts of kindness we performed also benefitted our wellbeing and mental health.
Despite never knowing who picks up the notes and how they are received, evidence shows that acts of kindness result in greater wellbeing and has an overall positive effects on life satisfaction and happiness.
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It was good to know that someone will potentially benefit from out actions, regardless of how trivial or simple the gesture seemed.
Cultivating Kindness
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It is important to be aware that our capacity to be kind to others depends on the resources and support available to us.
Therefore, students are more likely to be kind to themselves when they receive social support and kindness from others.
In conclusion, the support of others helps us be kind to ourselves and as a result, we are in a better position to be kind to others.
Thus, this act strove to provide that kindness and social support (although anonymously) , which will hopefully encourage students to be kinder to themselves and continue to cultivate this kindness towards others.