kindness for self essay

Essay on Kindness

500 words essay on kindness.

The world we live in today has been through a lot of things from world wars to epidemics, but one thing which remained constant throughout was resilience and kindness. Moreover, it was the spirit to fight back and help out each other. Kindness must be an essential and universal quality to make the world a better place. Through an essay on kindness, we will go through it in detail.

Importance of Kindness

Kindness towards nature, animals and other people has the ability to transform the world and make it a beautiful place for living. But, it is also important to remember that kindness towards you is also essential for personal growth.

Kindness is basically being polite, compassionate and thoughtful. Every religion and faith teaches its followers to be kind. Most importantly, kindness must not limit to humans but also to every living creature.

Even nature has its own way of showing kindness. For instance, the trees grow fruits for us and provide us with shade. One must not see kindness as a core value but as a fundamental behavioural element. When you are kind to your loved ones, you create a stable base.

As people are becoming more self-centred today, we must learn kindness. We must try to integrate it into ourselves. You might not know how a small act of kindness can bring about a change in someone’s life. So, be kind always.

Kindness Always Wins

There is no doubt that kindness always wins and it has been proven time and again by people. Sid is a greedy man who does not share his wealth with anyone, not even his family members.

He also does not pay his workers well. One day, he loses his bag of gold coins and loses his temper. Everyone helps him out to search for it but no one finds it. Finally, his worker’s little son finds the bag.

Upon checking the bag, he sees all the coins are there. But, his greed makes him play a trick on the poor worker. He claims that there were more coins in the bag and the worker stole them.

The issue goes to the court and the judge confirms from Sid whether his bag had more coins to which he agrees. So, the judge rules out that as Sid’s bag had more coins , the bag which the worker’s son found is not his.

Therefore, the bag gets handed to the worker as no one else claims it. Consequently, you see how the worker’s son act of kindness won and paid him well. On the other hand, how Sid’s greediness resulted in his loss only.

Get the huge list of more than 500 Essay Topics and Ideas

Conclusion of the Essay on Kindness

It is essential for all of us to understand the value of kindness. Always remember, it does not cost anything to be kind. It may be a little compliment or it can be a grand gesture, no matter how big or small, kindness always matters. Therefore, try your best to be kind to everyone around you.

FAQ of Essay on Kindness

Question 1: Why is it important to be kind?

Answer 1: It is important to be kind because it makes one feel good about oneself. When you do things for other people and help them with anything, it makes you feel warm and that you have accomplished something. Moreover, you also get respect in return.

Question 2: Why is kindness so powerful?

Answer 2: Kindness has a lot of benefits which includes increased happiness and a healthy heart . It slows down the ageing process and also enhances relationships and connections, which will indirectly boost your health.

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Be Kinder to Yourself

• Alice Boyes

How to steer your inner monologue toward compassion.

Talking to yourself with self-compassion will help you deal with a raft of challenging situations, including those you experience personally and those you need to help your employees or kids through. To use it effectively, follow these practices to build specific, personalized habits of self-compassionate talk: give yourself a gentle and supportive nudge by asking yourself what you need in the moment; use irreverence to challenge your beliefs; reframe a trait or tendency to take a more balanced view; identify your patterns of self-sabotage; borrow language from friends, quotes, or proverbs; and write scripts for common scenarios.

Often, we’re our own worst critic. When we feel anxious or frustrated, we talk to ourselves more harshly than we’d find acceptable by anyone else. I blew that presentation. Everyone on my team has such strong technical skills; I can’t follow the conversation. My kiddo is going to be so mad at me for working late again. We wrongly assume that criticism will motivate us to do better. We become even more of a perfectionist than usual. Instead of talking to ourselves with self-compassion, we raise our standards for our behavior as a defense against our feelings of doubt, anxiety, or frustration.

• Alice Boyes , PhD is a former clinical psychologist turned writer and the author of The Healthy Mind Toolkit , The Anxiety Toolkit , and Stress-Free Productivity .

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Why Kindness Matters

Boosts to life satisfaction and physical and mental well-being..

Posted March 8, 2023 | Reviewed by Vanessa Lancaster

• What Is Resilience?
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• Showing up kindly for others benefits both parties.
• Kindness has the power to boost satisfaction, happiness, and physical and mental well-being.
• Each of us has the capacity to show up kindly and make a difference in the world of another.

Kindness is about showing up in the world with compassion and acting for the greater good of all. While being nice is about being polite, pleasant, and agreeable and doing what we think we should, kindness goes a step beyond.

Kind humans know that life is hard, messy, and complex. Yet they understand that people are doing their best with the tools, resources, and experience they carry. Charles Glassman captured this by saying, “Kindness begins with the understanding that we all struggle.”

Many people view kindness as a weakness, but it's quite the opposite. It is a sign of strength. It is moving from "me" to "we," seeing the bigger picture, and loaning someone your strength and support. Supporting someone by doing whatever you can, wherever you are, with whatever you have is a sign of who you are—a kind human.

Kindness is doing the things that may go without acknowledgment and thanks. Authentic and intentional kindness doesn’t expect anything in return. We can practice kindness for kindness’ sake, not for the personal gain or the approval of others.

Kindness is a universal language that can bring people together regardless of age, race, ethnicity , religion, status, and identity . The good news is that it’s completely free too! I don’t think the saying “kindness makes the world go ‘round” came about without reason.

Benefits of Kindness

Most of us will have heard that "doing good is good for you" or "it’s better to give than to receive." It may be a surprise to learn that the research genuinely supports this. When we show up for others kindly, the benefits go both ways. Practicing kindness for the sake of kindness is one of the greatest gifts we can give to others and ourselves.

Research shows that being kind boosts the production of the feel-good hormones (serotonin and dopamine ), which give feelings of satisfaction and well-being, and activate the pleasure and reward areas in the brain of the givers and receivers. Endorphins, the body’s natural painkiller, can also be released and contribute to a "helper’s high." Kindness also fosters our sense of belonging and helps us build and strengthen our relationships (Hamilton, 2017).

Research shows that performing acts of kindness and helping others improves the happiness of the helper (Curry et al., 2018; Hamilton, 2017). A study by Rowland and Curry (2019) found that people who performed kindness activities for seven days experienced greater happiness. The increase in happiness was true whether the social tie was a friend, family member, stranger, or themselves. As you might expect, the more kind activities one does, the greater the boost in happiness. Even just observing acts of kindness had positive effects on one’s happiness.

In his book, The Five Side Effects of Kindness , David Hamilton discusses how we experience the effects of kindness throughout our entire nervous system . He suggests that kindness is good for the heart because the warm feelings we get help to generate oxytocin , which can reduce our blood pressure and stress hormone, cortisol. He also supports the idea that kindness is contagious and how acting kindly can create a ripple effect and inspire others to do the same.

Ways to Practice Kindness

Here are some ways you can practice kindness:

• Be kind to yourself. In my last post , I talked about how we could all use a gentle reminder about being a little kinder to ourselves. For many of us, showing up kindly starts with repairing the relationship we have with ourselves. I provided some restorative and practical ideas for how we can start to show up kindly for ourselves. When we are kinder with ourselves, we are kinder to others.
• Practice the kindergarten basics. Manners, turn-taking, including others, and comforting that friend who fell and scraped their knee. A kind environment is the compound of many small, kind acts.
• Show gratitude . When we feel grateful, we need to share this with others. Recognize and bring attention to what uplifts you. Tell someone they are doing a great job. End your work week by emailing someone who helped you out that week. Text or call a loved one to tell them they make a difference in your life.
• Listen to understand, not respond or problem-solve . So often, when others are talking, we think about how we will reply or what solutions we will provide. The truth is that being present, and listening, is a form of showing the kindness that can make another feel heard, understood, and truly felt. Next time you ask someone how they are, hold space and really listen to what they have to say.

Being kind is about showing up as your true self and inviting others to come as they are, too. It is meeting yourself and others with compassion and understanding in the present moment. Each of us can be why someone believes there are good people in this world.

So, kindness might not make the world go 'round (we have momentum and gravity to thank for that), but kindness does certainly make the world a better place.

Think about the power that a kind gesture, a kind hand, a kind word, or a listening ear can have on someone in a moment when they feel like their world is crumbling. Think about the way that it can make an already-good day that much better. Now think about the positive impact on the giver’s physical and mental health. The power of kindness is remarkable.

We may never know just how big of an impact our small acts of kindness have on someone else. But we know that kind humans doing kind things are exactly what this unwell world needs more of.

Although it may not be your first time hearing this one, I will leave you with this final ask:

“In a world where you can be anything, be kind.” —Unknown

Facebook image: Aloha Hawaii/Shutterstock

LinkedIn image: Dmytro Zinkevych/Shutterstock

Curry, O. S., Rowland, L. A., Van Lissa, C. J., Zlotowitz, S., McAlaney, J., & Whitehouse, H. (2018). Happy to help? A systematic review and meta-analysis of the effects of performing acts of kindness on the well-being of the actor. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 76 , 320-329. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jesp.2018.02.014

Hamilton, D. (2017). The five side effects of kindness: This book will make you feel better, be happier & live longer . Hay House UK.

Rowland, L., & Curry, O. S. (2019). A range of kindness activities boost happiness. The Journal of Social Psychology, 159 (3), 340-343. https://doi.org/10.1080/00224545.2018.1469461

Robyne Hanley-Dafoe, Ed.D. , is a resiliency and wellness scholar and speaker, author of Calm Within the Storm and Stress Wisely , and award-winning instructor and adjunct professor at Trent University.

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Sticking up for yourself is no easy task. But there are concrete skills you can use to hone your assertiveness and advocate for yourself.

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Why Being Kind to Yourself is so Important for Mental Health

Kindness towards ourselves and towards others has the potential to help you move forward from difficult feelings, author gill hasson explores the potential of self-compassion and the hope it brings, if you are struggling, you don't have to do it alone – find your therapist here  .

Self-compassion isn’t a ‘poor me’ feeling of self-pity; it’s just recognising that sometimes life is very difficult and that you need to do things to make life easier. To a greater or lesser extent, you need to allow yourself to take it easy. This isn’t a bad thing.

It means you are creating conditions that allow you to integrate what’s happening – or what has happened – into your life.

It’s hard to look forward to each day when you know you will be experiencing pain and sadness. So, each day decide to have something to look forward to. No matter how small it is, have something you can do that you enjoy.

Comfort yourself. Think of pleasant things you can do. Eat healthy comfort food. Wear a favourite piece of clothing. Have a warm bath or a hot shower.

Do something nice for someone else; a small kindness that will take your mind off what you’re going through.

Watch an uplifting film, or funny pet videos on YouTube.

Look at a book or website with beautiful scenery or beautiful art. Whatever brings you moments of pleasure.

Listen to music. Music can help you access a range of feelings: anger, sadness and happiness. Music can soothe or uplift you. If you play an instrument or sing, then play that instrument or sing. If you have a hobby or passion that you can ‘lose yourself’ in, it can help you feel engaged and connected.

Whatever it is that you get comfort and enjoyment out of, make yourself do it. Do something that gives you pleasure and comfort each and every day.

Doing things that you enjoy can help you move through sadness and difficulties, even if you don’t initially feel like doing them.

There isn’t one right way to take care of and be kind to yourself when you’ve been through a really difficult experience. When times are tough, what works for you might be different to what works for someone else. And what works for you today might be different from what

helped a month ago, or what will help in a few months’ time. Nothing stays the same – part of being kind to yourself is to be flexible.

At some point, the feelings of sadness, anger or upset that you are experiencing now will just be a sad memory.

When you’re ready, you can work towards that. However, when things are really difficult, it can seem like nothing is going to change; that you won’t be able to move on. You need a catalyst; something that will bring about a change. That catalyst is hope. Hope is an inherent aspect of kindness; hope encourages you to believe that things will eventually improve and be good and that you’ll feel better.

With hope there is possibility. With hope there are alternatives.

Create hope; visualise images for yourself – pictures where you are coping and things are going well. Imagine new possibilities. The more you imagine yourself coming out the other side, the more likely it is to happen. Your mind can create a world of possibility, in the present, which will give you hope for the future.

You will need to make a decision that you are going to move on. It won’t happen automatically, you have to decide that you want to move forward.

Have patience though; take things one step at a time.

While it can be helpful to have goals to help you look to a brighter future, try to avoid rushing into things. Sometimes, in an effort to distract yourself and move forward, it’s easy to make rash decisions.

Is there anything that needs to be adjusted or changed in order to go forward? Be open to new ideas and ways of doing things. Think along the lines of ‘It might help to … ’, or ‘I might try … ’, or ‘I could … ’, or ‘Now I’m going to … ’.

Note the things, no matter how small, you achieve each day. Noting small achievements can help you to see that you can do things and you can build on those things to help you move on.

What gets included may depend on how you’re feeling that day. Sometimes it might simply be that you got out of bed and got dressed. Sometimes it might be household chores or work tasks, or cooking a nice meal.

Regularly write in an achievement journal and every now and then you’ll be able to look back through it to reflect on all that you’ve learned and achieved. It will all add up to quite a lot of small achievements.

Look for the positives. When life feels like it’s weighing you down, it can seem like everything is wrong, bad or hopeless; there’s nothing positive.

But there are positives – you just have to look for them.

Again, it might only be small things – this morning’s coffee, hearing birds sing in your garden, a funny text from a friend, something good on TV – or it could be bigger things; maybe you have a good job, or a supportive boss, family, partner, neighbour or friend.

Make a contribution. If you can help other people, in the process, you help yourself. You could sign up with a voluntary organisation or you could simply do something kind for a friend, family member, neighbour or colleague. Even helping just one person is a start. It will take the focus off yourself and your situation in the most positive of ways.

Expect, though, to have bad days. Weeks, months, over a year after a difficult time in your life, you might have a day or more when, although it feels like there is no reason at all to feel knocked back , you just are. If you’re having a bad day, especially if it’s after a period of better days, there’s no need to wonder ‘What’s wrong with me?’ Bad days do happen. They will pass. Accept that sometimes you have a bad day for an obvious reason

and sometimes for no apparent reason. On those days, be kind and gentle with yourself. Phone a friend, stay in and eat pizza and have an early night. Or whatever works for you.

As the Austrian poet Rainer Maria Rilke said: ‘Let everything happen to you: beauty and terror. Just keep going. No feeling is final.’

If, however, you’re concerned that you’re not able to move forward, do speak to your doctor or a therapist .

This is an edited extract from Kindness: Change Your Life and Make the World a Kinder Place , by Gill Hasson (published by Capstone)

Further reading

Kindness: do you know you're worth it, kindness and gratitude: two ingredients for a good relationship, moving from self-criticism to self-compassion, why self-compassion is the key to success, understanding and managing a depression relapse, find welldoing therapists near you, related articles, recent posts.

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51 Kindness Essay Topics & Examples

Looking for kindness topic ideas to write about? The concepts of kindness, generosity, and compassion are crucial nowadays.

🏆 Best Kindness Essay Examples

📌 top kindness topics to write about, 🥰 interesting kindness essay topics, 👍 controversial kindness topic ideas, 🙏 catchy kindness essay titles.

Being a debated subject in philosophy, psychology, and religion, kindness is definitely worth writing about. The topic of kindness is one of the key in the Bible. It has become especially important nowadays, in the era of intolerance and instability. In your kindness essay, you might want to focus on the importance of helping others. Another option is to consider the concept of kindness in philosophy, psychology, and religion. Whatever direction you will choose, this article will be helpful. It contains everything necessary to write an A+ paper on generosity & compassion! There are kindness essay examples, topics, and research titles.

• Stories of Random Acts of Kindness Foundation I made a shopping list and after completing it, I went to one of the shelters to hand over the purchases to its representatives. In addition, it is important to understand that the reaction of […]
• Acts of Kindness and Happiness in Human Life The research at hand is aimed to prove that, to boost happiness through receiving positive emotions, a person should commit more actions that can be referred to as acts of kindness.
• Random Acts of Kindness Foundation and Personal Acts of Kindness This exercise enabled me to reflect on my principles and think about the kind of impact I make in my day-to-day life.
• Acts of Kindness in Society Initially, she wrote a report on this topic, in the preparation of which she visited the shelter and was upset to tears about how depressing the life of animals is.
• “The Kindness of Strangers” by Ruben Martinez The USA may promote itself to be the “land of immigrants” with the Statue of Liberty as a shining reminder of what the rhetoric of residency means.
• Does True Altruism Exist? Therefore, in their experiment, Cialdini and his colleagues sought to separate the feelings of sadness from those of empathy among the subjects in order to assess the reliability of the findings of the former experiments […]
• Altruism and social behavior This shows altruism is not only beneficial to the recipients of the meritorious deeds but also to the doers of the deeds.
• An Anonymous Act of Kindness When speaking about the relation of altruism to psychology, it is necessary to state that altruism is considered to be the issue of social psychology.
• “Selfless Gene” by Olivia Judson and Reasons for Altruism Once people realize that the biology and social life of another race is the same, they tend to be more understanding and kind.
• The Role of Compassion While Anne Fadiman’s this book seems to be primarily related to the impact of linguistic and cultural barriers on the experiences of immigrants, Amy Tan’s essay suggests that their difficulties can be explained primarily by […]
• Critical Response “On Compassion” She is a lawyer, a sign that her level of literacy is quite higher and she able to learn and understand, even by seeing, the situation of other people.
• Happy People Become Happier through Kindness: A Counting Kindnesses Intervention
• How Kindness Shapes One’s Destiny in Million Dollar Baby
• How Patience Can Be Considered An Act Of Kindness
• Important to Treat Patients with Kindness and Respect
• Introspection in A Complicated Kindness and The Catcher in the Rye
• Jacqueline Woodson’s Lovely Letter to Children About Kindness, Presence, and How Books Transform Us
• Job’s Suffering Not Befitting His Kindness and Compassion
• Larry and Friends: An Illustrated Ode to Immigration, Diversity, Otherness, and Kindness
• Love, Kindness, and the Song of the Universe: The Night Jack Kerouac Kept a Young Woman from Taking Her Own Life
• Marcus Aurelius on What His Father Taught Him About Humility, Honor, Kindness, and Integrity
• Muslim Muslims And Muslim People With Kindness And Love Essay
• People Can Still Show Kindness Despite all the Evil Out There Essay
• Portrayal Of The Tuskegee Syphilis Experiment On Kindness
• Positive Interventions: Happiness Attained from Acts of Kindness and Gratitude
• Revealing of the True Identity in Complicated Kindness by Miriam Toews and Mister Pip by Lloyd Jones
• Revisiting Kindness and Confusion in Public Goods Experiments
• Roland: A Charming Vintage Illustrated Ode to the Imagination and the Animating Power of Kindness
• Secular Views on the Concept of Kindness
• Self-Indulgence or Kindness as the Keys to Happiness and a Better Life
• Self-Scrutiny Applied with Kindness: Epictetus’s Enduring Wisdom on Happiness and How Philosophy Helps Us Answer the Soul’s Cry
• Shakespeare: Portia’s Kindness Out Shines
• The Disabled With The Utmost Kindness And Compassion
• The Effect Of Kindness During The Iranian Revolution
• The Effect Of Random Acts Of Kindness, And Social Responsibility
• The Essence of Life: Kindness
• The Farmer and the Clown: A Warm Wordless Story about an Unlikely Friendship and How We Ennoble Each Other with Kindness
• The Huge Impact of the Small Acts of Kindness in Mawi Asgedom’s Memoir of Beetles
• The Importance of Kindness and Thankfulness in The Rihla Essay
• The Importance of Showing Kindness Through Acts
• The Importance of the Qualities of Shredders, Adaptability and Basic Human Kindness in Mark Twain’s Novel, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
• The Injustice of Reality: Social Messages in Gilman’s “Wedded Bliss” and Plath’s “Kindness”
• The Issue Of Identity Change In The Novels “Mister Pip” By Lloyd Jones And “A Complicated Kindness” By Miriam Toews
• The Kindness of Strangers? An Investigation into the Interaction of Funder Motivations in Online Crowdfunding Campaigns
• The Kindness of Strangers: The Usefulness of Electronic Weak Ties for Technical Advice
• The Lion and the Mouse who Returned a Kindness
• Themes of a Complicated Kindness by Miriam Toews
• The Semblance of Selflessness: The Ingenuity of Kindness in As I Lay Dying
• The Theme of Kindness in The Grapes of Wrath, a Novel by John Steinbeck
• The Toil of Good and Evil: Multi-Faceted Kindness in The Book Thief
• The Value Of Kindness In Bhakti According To Vyasa’s The Bhagavad Gita
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IvyPanda. (2024, February 28). 51 Kindness Essay Topics & Examples. https://ivypanda.com/essays/topic/kindness-essay-examples/

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IvyPanda . "51 Kindness Essay Topics & Examples." February 28, 2024. https://ivypanda.com/essays/topic/kindness-essay-examples/.