insideKENT Magazine Issue 83 - February 2019 | Page 121

As Aesop said, “No act of kindness, no matter
how small, is wasted”, and I happen to think that
random acts of kindness – the selfless act of being
kind, with no expectation of reward or recognition
and often anonymously, whether spontaneously
or planned in advance, for no other reason than
to help or cheer someone up and ultimately
just to make them feel happier – may well be the
best kind. I have never forgotten how kind she was or the
difference she made that day, and it has become
part of my own inspiration to be kind to others –
a way to pay it forward.
Maya Angelou once said, “People will forget what
you said, people will forget what you did, but
people will never forget how you made them feel.”
I remember once arriving at a baby osteopath
appointment with my screaming, reflux-suffering
10 month old. I’d encountered a horrendous
journey and was juggling a mountain of baby
paraphernalia, carrying said banshee-screaming
child, as I swung open the reception door just in
time for my darling daughter to projectile vomit
over the entire entrance, herself, and for good
measure, me. As I stood paralysed, not just from
the embarrassment but from the awful shock of
not even knowing what to do next, an angel
appeared in the form of a senior practitioner who
I’d never met before. Without a second thought,
she calmly took my shell-shocked, sick-covered
baby from my arms, arranged a cleaner, ushered
me into the staff loo with paper towels, soap and
sanitiser and played with my daughter until I was
clean enough to take her back. She disappeared
before I’d even had a chance to say thank you,
and I never saw her again. Studies by the University of Sussex have found
that the ‘warm glow’ feeling is real; even when
your act is entirely altruistic, you will in fact feel
happier by making someone else happy. Scientific
research has shown that performing kind acts can
boost your physical and mental health. Studies
have shown that partaking in kind acts can result
in everything from reducing stress, lowering
cholesterol and better blood pressure – even
alleviating depression and increasing life
satisfaction and wellbeing. So being kind to others
will also make you kind to yourself.
Making someone feel better, feel grateful and feel
happy will not only stay with that person – as that
stranger’s kindness has with me – but being kind
to others is actually good for you.
From those humble placemat beginnings, there
is now a global kindness movement, with a growing
army of ‘RAK-tivists’ celebrated most notably on
17th February: Random Acts of Kindness Day.
In celebration of this most wondrous of days, here
are insideKENT’s suggestions for you to carry out
your own random act of kindness. Sometimes the
smallest act will make the biggest difference, and
believe us, you’ll love it too!
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