KINDNESS AFFECTS ...dash dash & dash

There is no need for temples, no need for complicated philosophy. Our own brain, our own heart is our temple; the philosophy is kindness. -Dalai Lama

Kindness is loving people more than they deserve.-Joseph Joubert

Gentle, caring, selflessness results in significant
 health benefits

We live in times where one theory considers that 95 per cent of all illness is psychosomatic. As kindness actively changes you body’s biochemistry to produce “positive” chemicals, you can change both your psychological and physical responses through giving/receiving kindness. Positive emotional experiences help soothe your body, reduce stress and improve your sense of well-being.

Here is a list of the benefits of kindness on health:

* A more optimistic and happier outlook on life

* A heightened sense of well being

* A sense of exhilaration and euphoria
* An increase in energy
* A feeling of being healthy
* Decreased feelings of loneliness, depression and helplessness
* A sense of connectedness with others
* A greater sense of calmness and relaxation
* Increased longevity
* Better weight control
* An improvement in insomnia
* A stronger immune system
* A reduction in pain
* Increased body warmth
* A healthier cardiovascular system (reduction of high blood pressure, improved circulation, reduced coronary disease)
* A reduction of excessive stomach acid
* A decrease of oxygen requirement
* Relief from arthritis and asthma
* Speedier recovery from surgery
* Reduced cancer activity.

Research says :

• Helping contributes to the maintenance of good health, and it can decrease the effect of diseases and disorders serious and minor, psychological and physical.
• A rush of euphoria, followed by a longer period of calm, after performing a kind act, often referred to as a “helper’s high,” involving physical sensations and the release of endorphins. Once “helper’s high” subsides, it is then followed by an even longer period of an increased sense of well-being.

• Performing kind acts reverses feelings of depression, provides a sense of social connection. It also reduces feelings of hostility and isolation that can cause such conditions as stress, overeating, and ulcers. For some, the reduction in stress may decrease the constriction within the lungs that leads to asthma attacks.
• Helping can enhance feelings of joyfulness, emotional resilience, and vigour.
• A decrease in both the intensity and the awareness of physical pain can occur.
• A decreased incidence of negative attitudes, such as chronic hostility.
• The health benefits and sense of well-being return for hours or even days whenever the helping act is remembered.
• An enhanced sense of self-worth, greater happiness, and optimism, as well as a reduction in feelings of helplessness and depression, can be achieved.
• The sense of an “affiliative connection” that occurs when helping leads to positive emotions that can strengthen the immune system.
•  The practice of caring for strangers results in immense immune system and healing benefits.

Acts of kindness, small and large, create a rippling effect; That is that they create a desire in you to do more and that they cause others to feel a similar effect. As these ripples affect more people they become larger. Ripples grow to waves

when things are low, when all seems lost, we still have the strength to persevere, and though we may not see the strength in ourselves, sometimes a helping hand can help lift us up, put us back on our feet, and kick us in the butt to get us running again. Give someone a helping hand, and your kindness will be the stepping stone that gets them back on track.

 There are no messages which cannot be conveyed kindly. No matter the situation, no matter how harsh you feel is necessary, there is always a better way to say what you mean. Be Polite. Find the better way.

Charity is injurious unless it helps the recipient to become independent of it

 –John D. Rockefeller, Jr