Taylor Swift and the power of kindness

I was fortunate to recently attend Taylor Swift’s The Eras Tour Melbourne concert, and sharing that experience with 96,000 others bonded by the shared value of kindness had me truly marvelling at its impact.

Much has been shared on Taylor’s own acts of kindness, including the life-changing financial bonuses she gave her production truck drivers last year. But it’s the kindness she inspires in her fans – and the multiplying positive effect that has on wellbeing – that’s genuinely awe-inspiring. There were countless reports of new friends made and friendship bracelets swapped at the concert, as well as smiles and nods as strangers praised each other’s outfits and the creative effort put into them. Everyone was so inclusive, accepting, and kind. Taylor of course encouraged this, announcing that she had received “lots of reports” of attendees being “extremely kind and wonderful to each other”.

The research backs up just how important kindness is to our individual and collective wellbeing. Indeed, it has shown that acts of kindness enhance wellbeing and diminish anxiety or depression more than a short cognitive behavioural therapy intervention (Cregg & Cheavers, 2023.) Studies also show that after people are encouraged to perform kind acts to help others, their own sense of confidence, competence, and meaning in life improves (Regan, Margolis, Ozer, Schwitzgebel, & Lyubomirsky, 2023.)

So, in honour of the collective kindness so beautifully witnessed last month, I share the following suggested activities, in the hope they too help your wellbeing and that of those around you. According to Professor Simon Moss, when individuals are encouraged to apply these activities, their wellbeing tends to improve (Ciocarlan, Masthoff, & Oren, 2023.)

Try one or more today, and tell us about it in the comments.

Let’s share and multiply kindness.

It truly can change the world – or at the very least, definitely the world of someone.

Acts of kindness to help wellbeing:

1. Write a comment describing the positive qualities of the last person you encountered today.
2. Hide a positive message in a public space for someone else to find. Write a comment to tell us about it.
3. Volunteer to help someone you know with a simple task. Write a comment about your experience.
4. Learn to say, “Have a beautiful day!” in a new language and teach someone else how to say it too. Write a comment to tell us which language you chose.
5. Draw a simple portrait of a friend and gift them the drawing. Write a comment to share their reaction.
6. Write a comment reflecting on 3 things you feel very grateful for today.
7. Write a comment with an appreciation message for someone who has made a positive impact in your life.
8. Say thank you to a friend who has been kind to you. Write a comment to tell us how you feel.
9. Make plans to meet a friend and do a fun activity together in the next month. Write a comment to tell us your plan.
10. Give an honest compliment to one of your friends. Write a comment to tell us about their reaction.
11. Start a friendly conversation with someone you have not talked to recently. Write a comment to tell us about your interaction.
12. Write a comment with a compliment for yourself. You deserve it!
13. Take a deep breath, stretch and relax for 5 minutes. Write a comment to let everyone know how you feel after!
14. Go on a short walk outside and notice everything that is beautiful around you. Write a comment to share your experience.

References

Ciocarlan, A., Masthoff, J., & Oren, N. (2023, April). Kindness makes you happy and happiness makes you healthy: Actual persuasiveness and personalisation of persuasive messages in a behaviour change intervention for wellbeing. In International Conference on Persuasive Technology (pp. 198-214). Cham: Springer Nature Switzerland.

Cregg, D. R., & Cheavens, J. S. (2023). Healing through helping: an experimental investigation of kindness, social activities, and reappraisal as well-being interventions. The Journal of Positive Psychology, 18(6), 924-941.

Regan, A., Margolis, S., Ozer, D. J., Schwitzgebel, E., & Lyubomirsky, S. (2023). What is unique about kindness? Exploring the proximal experience of prosocial acts relative to other positive behaviors. Affective science, 4(1), 92-100.

Building Resilience Training

Christopher Shen has delivered live ‘Building Resilience’ training webinars and mental health toolbox sessions with great success. In this 'Building Resilience’ training, Christopher shares practical resilience techniques for participants to deal with difficulty, master stress, overcome fatigue and anxiety, and bolster themselves against burnout. The training is supported by the handbook, Wrestling with Resilience.