Is being kind good for you? Flashcards
random act of kindness
small action done to help someone else or to make them feel happy.
It’s something that psychologists are starting to prove scientifically but that most of us knew all along: we feel just as good being kind to someone else as when someone is kind to us. It reminds me of something called a random act of kindness. Have you heard of that?
Yes, things like helping a stranger cross the road – small, everyday things people do to help others for no other reason than to make them happy. Yes, and one of the main benefits of being kind is that we feel the kindness in ourselves. It’s called ‘the gift that keeps on giving’ .
warm glow
inner feeling of happiness at doing something kind for others.
Usually giving something away, money for example, means we no longer possess it. But kindness is different: both the giver of kindness and the receiver experience what Dr Campbell-Meiklejohn calls a warm glow – an inner feeling of happiness. Nevertheless, for some people giving something away equals losing it, so for them being kind seems counter-intuitive
counter-intuitive
not happening in the way you would expect it to.
What we know from the science is, and what can seem counter-intuitive because giving can cost something of ourselves, is that we can experience a sense of reward when we are kind to others… so like, when we eat a yummy food or have a pleasant surprise, the parts of our brain that help us remember these nice experiences and motivated us to do them again and again – they become active when we’re kind. And we call this feeling a warm glow.
… Nevertheless, for some people giving something away equals losing it, so for them being kind seems counter-intuitive – opposite to the way you expect things should happen.
yummy
delicious; tasting very good.
Usually giving something away, money for example, means we no longer possess it. But kindness is different: both the giver of kindness and the receiver experience what Dr Campbell-Meiklejohn calls a warm glow . Nevertheless, for some people giving something away equals losing it, so for them being kind seems counter-intuitive.
But on a chemical level the brain doesn’t agree! For our brain, being kind feels as good as any other pleasurable activity, for example eating something yummy – something delicious which tastes good.
compassion
strong feeling of empathy for the suffering of others and a wish to help them.
Compassionate leadership leads to inclusive, cooperative outcomes which lead to fairer societies, lower crime rates, higher levels of health and wellbeing. And yet we have this idea that compassion somehow doesn’t belong, that it can be dismissed in the same way as women have been dismissed as something fluffy and a nice idea but not really practical. But in fact, the science behind compassion is that it actually takes courage to act with compassion.
Jennifer wants politics to be based on compassion – a strong feeling of empathy with the suffering of others and a wish to help them.
fluffy
soft and woolly; considered not serious or important.
She says kindness is sometimes dismissed as fluffy – soft and woolly, something not considered serious or important. But in fact, being compassionate is not easy and takes courage.
Compassionate leadership leads to inclusive, cooperative outcomes which lead to fairer societies, lower crime rates, higher levels of health and wellbeing. And yet we have this idea that compassion somehow doesn’t belong, that it can be dismissed in the same way as women have been dismissed as something fluffy and a nice idea but not really practical.
