Random Acts of Kindness

What does it mean to the mental health canvas of an individual?

Kindness comprises feelings of love, care, empathy, connectedness, compassion, trust, security, confidence, gratitude and much more. When the wholesome pleasurable picture comes out in your mind as a complete emotional experience, it converts into an act of kindness or it stimulates you to act spontaneously without really thinking of what benefits it will give you. 

Psychologically, acting kindly in any situation is a phenomenon called altruism. This phenomenon is researched in the field of anthropology and neurobiology also. There are many theories on what & how people think, what emotions they feel, why some personalities are more altruistic than others, what are other characteristics traits of altruistic people etc. People with high & real self-concepts are more kind & show altruism in more situations than negative/low or false self-concepts. 

But for us, it is important to know the process that the random acts of kindness make us go through emotional changes and later on maybe neurobiological changes in the brain. 

Whoever experiences & knowingly or unknowingly aware of his/her feelings deeply and enough he/she will act kindly in various situations. When you see anyone who needs help, doesn’t matter how big or small & your mind connects all the dots of your past experiences with emotions you felt in the past, your thought processes on them, and feelings you stick to based on those experiences, it creates all those emotions once again and it connects you to your ‘self’ with that person/animal/situation etc. & motivates you to act or not to act / to act the way you act in that particular situation. 

Your random acts of kindness somewhere give you a feeling of security that whenever you are in need, there are kind people in the world and you will get help.  It boosts your trust in yourself and your overall life. It connects you again & again to your ‘self’ - goodness in you. It drops you to the point of love, and compassion for yourself & toward life. It moves you ahead in life towards the acceptance of life as it comes on your way as well as on others’ way. 

It allows you to heal past experiences of some rejection, unconnected

ness, hatred, anger, helplessness, hopelessness etc. It enriches you with the opportunity to feel proud and grateful at the same time. 

When you act kindly, only after some time (may it be some minutes, hours or days depending upon your emotions and thought processes) will you feel positive. You ask someone who lacks something in the past or is deprived of something he/she will feel great satisfaction or inner peace when he/she fulfils it for someone else. 

This pattern of acting kindly in many situations can be learnt at any age. You have to work on your emotional and thinking patterns. Simultaneously, you will do the actual act of kindness purposely with regularity & it will enhance your mental health slowly.

Meenakshi (9420880529)

21-02-2024