The things that matter most in life aren’t meaningfully measured on a bottom line or in dollars and cents. What truly matters is the emotional currency that bonds people to people. Actions that demonstrate care and nurture the soul speak louder than words and can have a long-lasting impact on how we live our lives. Learn how simple gestures deeply affect our lives, our health, and our world.
Reaping What You Sow: Healing Inspired by Simple Acts
A colleague recently surprised me with a handwritten note to thank me for a card I sent her! Her unexpected, highly detailed note reinforced once again the impact of the human touch in a hyper-digital world. 
It’s also a reminder that our business conversations overwhelmingly focus on efficiencies through automation, artificial intelligence, chatbots, and the like. Here’s the dichotomy: These technologies are important in connecting us with coworkers, stakeholders, and our communities; however when overused, these same technologies distract us from real human connection. The results actually lower engagement and diminish our “experience” with the people who matter most as well as our well-being.
Scientifically & Medically Proven Benefits
Science backs up the assertion that a simple gesture such as a card or a small token can deeply impact us (giver and receiver) and actually improve our health. Serotonin, a natural substance and neurotransmitter in your body, is a natural “feel-good” chemical that helps regulate mood and sense of well-being. When someone engages in a kind gesture, big or small, their serotonin levels increase. What is most interesting is the serotonin level increases in the giver, receiver, AND anyone who witnesses the gesture, providing all a well-being boost. And if that’s not enough, the positive effects of a kind gesture are contagious. When someone’s mood improves, it drives them to likely “pay it forward.”
Medical research indicates that gestures of kindness also reduce blood pressure and cortisol (a hormone directly related to stress) as a result of the release of the hormone oxytocin. Oxytocin causes the release of a natural substance, nitric oxide, which dilates the blood vessels, reducing blood pressure and improving overall heart health.
Self-serving Kindness
Beyond treating others, human kindness is also about how you extend those same behaviors and intentions to yourself. We need to give ourselves permission to be kinder to ourselves by practicing self-talk and self-gratitude.
Anecdotal Proof
People who make kind gestures part of their everyday lives report the following a long list of benefits that include:
- deepened spirit;
- increased feelings of confidence and self-esteem, empathy, and compassion;
- stronger sense of connectivity to others;
- increased engagement; and
- personal and professional rewards that cannot be explained in words.
Essentially, the experience is more powerful than words can describe.
To experience this magic associated with acts of kindness, we have to rise above the busyness of life and our fixation on efficiency. Who couldn’t use extra doses of serotonin to help dissipate the angst weighing on us these days? Here are a few simple ideas to consider:
- Smile as you walk past people. Your smile could be what they needed that day.
- Pay for groceries (all or part) or a cup of coffee for the person behind you.
- Tip your server or delivery person a bit more than usual.
- Welcome a new neighbor or colleague with a small gift or gesture.
- Graciously let someone in front of you when you’re stuck in traffic.
- Celebrate and welcome a new life.
- Send encouragement and hope to someone working through loss or illness.
- Call someone you care about. Really listen and respond to what’s on their mind.
- Send a card with a meaningful note.
Get the full list of simple gestures to help you make people you encounter feel like they matter and be good to yourself.
Consider starting each day intentionally asking yourself “How am I going to do something kind for another human today – in my family, at work, or wherever I’m planning to go?” Committing to perform a certain number of small, kind gestures daily will help you succeed. Acts of kindness can make the world a happier place for everyone. Actions that demonstrate you care about others make us feel good at a time when we all need a lift.
Please share (hot link to: hillary@askhillarys.com) the human gestures that made the biggest impression on you.