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Kindness Is Always in Season
November 12, 2021
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First, From the Heart
There was an enduring ad campaign for Faberge shampoo that ran in the US in the late ‘70s and early ‘80s. If you were in proximity to a television, you may recall the pitch – “you tell two friends, and they’ll tell two friends, and so on, and so on….” Passing good feelings to each other has always been a natural form of human expression, long before social media replaced word-of-mouth. The literature is full of evidence for anyone who needs data to confirm what we know in our hearts. Kindness begets kindness. Love begets love.
For our next Global Compassion Community Gathering, we are delighted to welcome author, teacher, and activist Shelly Tygielski. Many of you know Shelly as the founder of Pandemic of Love, a mutual aid movement based on kindness and support for those in need. We hope you can join us on December 9 to be in community, conversation and practice with each other and Shelly. Click here for details and registration information, and feel free to share the invitation with two friends, and so on… :)
As World Kindness Day stops by for its annual visit tomorrow, it is a great reminder to keep our intention, focus, and practice aligned with lovingkindness for ourselves and for all beings.
With heart,
Laura
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Best of the Blog
Kindness – A Win-Win-Win Proposition
November 13, 2021 is World Kindness Day. Every kind act we take has a powerful effect, rippling out and generating impacts beyond the benefit to the recipient of kindness. Kindness has the power to support all the elements of compassionate culture. When compassionate leaders practice kindness, it will be felt through the entire organization or team. Read more.
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Research Worth Sharing
Prosocial Modeling: A Meta-Analytic Review and Synthesis
by Haesung Jung, Eunjin Seo, Eunjoo Han, Marlone D. Henderson, and Erika A. Patall
in American Psychological Association Psychological Bulletin, 2020, Vol. 146, No. 8, 635–663
Eighty-eight studies with tens of thousands of participants over decades of research show that witnessing other's helpful actions is contagious. Your questions about how, why, and when this happens are explored and answered in this exhaustive meta-analysis of the data. For compassionate leaders, the conclusion is clear: The way to bring about change in the behavior of others is to model it and embody it. Read the research.
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Practice Matters
Kind to Me
Over the years, I’ve struggled to eliminate many harmful behaviors and cultivate new ways of being to create more love, joy, and contentment in my life. Hard as it sometimes still is to be vulnerable and open, I do my best to greet strangers on the street with genuine loving attention – a nod, a smile, and a hello. Even if I’m having a difficult day, this simple act of acknowledging another person from the heart lifts me up. My wish is to share a spark of human connection. Whether or not it is received, I’ve done what I can in that moment.
How curious then, that bringing that same sense of lovingkindess to myself is the hardest practice of all. When I look into my own eyes, can I acknowledge that I too am just human? That I am deserving and worthy of love, just because I exist. Can I turn toward myself with the same love I extend to others? I practice generously accepting my joy and suffering, along with all the other emotional waves that flow through my day. I practice so that I remember “I am love.”
When can we practice? Always!
If you'd like to explore additional Practice Matters, you can find them here.
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Upcoming Events
Global Compassion Community Gathering
Free Community Event + Guest Speaker Shelly Tygielski
Attend online December 9, 2021 12:00 - 1:00 PM EST | 17:00 – 18:00 UTC
We invite you to gather to practice, inspire, and ignite our collective hearts and minds to birth a more compassionate world. Our guest presenter and practice leader is Shelly Tygielski. We are delighted to welcome Shelly Tygielski, author of Sit Down to Rise Up: How Radical Self-Care Can Change the World. She is the founder of Pandemic of Love, a global, grassroots, volunteer-led mutual aid community that has directly matched nearly two million people since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, accounting for over $60 million in direct transactions. Pandemic of Love is a brilliant example of how one person’s courageous compassion can activate systemic change.
The event is co-hosted by Laura Berland, our Founder, and Monica Worline, co-author of Awakening Compassion at Work and Stanford University researcher with the Center for Compassion and Altruism Research and Education. Please register for the free event to reserve your spot. Find out more and register here.
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