Acts of kindness: How Compliments Can Make Someone’s Day

15 Feb Acts of kindness: How Compliments Can Make Someone’s Day

Acts of kindness, how compliments can make someone’s day? This is an extremely persistent and compelling question which needs to be answered. Depression is a type of mood disorder characterized by a constant sense of sadness and a loss of interest. It affects how you feel, think, behave which can lead to a number of mental and physical problems. It’s also popularly known as major depressive disorder or clinical depression. You may find it difficult to carry out day-to-day tasks, and you may feel as if life isn’t worth living.

Depression is more than just a case of the blues, and it isn’t something you can “snap out of.” Depression may necessitate long-term therapy. Don’t be discouraged, though. Medication, counseling, or both help most people with depression. AtEase provides the best online counseling in India by some of the top mental health experts.

Having said that, let’s now look at how we can overcome depression and help other people.

What is Kindness?

“Kindness goes a long way” is a saying that we all have heard, but what does it mean? And how does it affect you and the person you show kindness to?

Kindness means actions that are selfless or harboring a spirit of helpfulness. Acts of kindness allow us to be generous and considerate without expecting anything in return. They are  simple, positive, healthy and free.

When you are depressed, or having any signs of depression, you tend to dwell on your problems, and kindness can help with that. Someone being kind to you or you being kind to yourself can help you appreciate what you have, boost your self-esteem and make you realize how valuable you are to this world.

However grand or small the act of kindness is, it makes the receiver and the giver the same feelings of being loved, valued and happy.

If you are someone who has clinical depression or showing signs of depression, it is suggested to incorporate acts of kindness into your daily routine as it helps increase levels of an endorphin like chemical that interact with the receptors in your brain and help reduce your perception of pain, triggering a positive feeling in the body.

It is not just about how you treat others. It is also about how you extend the acts of kindness even to yourself. You can be kinder in your self-talk, practice gratitude instead of verbally beating yourself up.

A few people even go above and beyond while showing kindness, which ends in them harming themselves emotionally. When someone gives their entire energy into an act of kindness, it can be because they wish to escape their reality and focus on others instead.

However, always remember to leave enough for yourself, as before showing kindness to others you have to show it to yourself. Whatever you can manage to do in a day is enough. Prioritize some “me” time, treat yourself with something small, spend time in nature or do anything that you enjoy or want to do at that moment. It is very easy to be hard on yourself and beat yourself up for not being “enough” and it is harder to be kind to yourself. But as a human who holds value in this world, you have to learn to value yourself.

Showing kindness to yourself and the world has various benefits. Some of them are:

Research has continuously shown that kindness can diminish or counter stress. If two or more stressful events occur consecutively, kindness can act as a buffer taking a little bit of the stress off of them. It has been seen that kindness and stress have a negative correlation.

Studies have also shown that acts of kindness can help people with anxiety disorders like social anxiety. It can help them feel happier, improve their relationships, increase their confidence and make them socially comfortable.

Kindness also seems to produce oxytocin, a hormone known for breastfeeding and reproduction. This hormone reduces the activity of the amygdala, a brain region which is associated with anxiety, trauma and fear. Studies have shown that people with high levels of fear show high levels of activity in the amygdala. However, when they were shown kindness or showed kindness to others, the oxytocin produced reduced the activity of the amygdala significantly which in turn reduced their fear. Oxytocin is also a hormone that helps us feel connected to each other and trust each other.

Since our brain is connected to our body, showing kindness can help improve your physical health. It can help lower your blood pressure, improve cardiovascular health, increase your longevity and much more.

However, the effects of kindness aren’t lasting. A single act of kindness cannot help you through several hard days or even hours. Thus, it is important to know that acts of kindness have to be repeated. An act of kindness needs to be incorporated as a part of daily living whether it is through volunteering, or helping a coworker who is showing signs of depression or showing kindness to yourself everyday.

Acts of kindness can protect us from depression symptoms, anxiety disorders and even panic attacks. They help us find a way out when we are struggling. Acts of kindness can be the starting point of your recovery, but it is advisable that you seek support from professional counselors or psychotherapists if the symptoms interfere with your daily living.

Acts of Kindness And The Pandemic

We were all taken over by uncertainty, financial challenges and health challenges during this pandemic. A lot of us did not have anything to look forward to for the next day and our lives changed drastically, giving us panic and anxiety attacks. Staying at home and quarantining is not not easy for us social creatures and thus most of us showed signs of depression and anxiety disorders.

Kindness can act as a huge boon in such situations. There are so many ways in which we can show kindness to each other and ourselves even during these hard times. Some of the ways are:

• Setting aside time to volunteer. Volunteering in food-drives or by simply helping a quarantined older neighbor get their vegetables from the market.
• Leaving a kind google or Zomato review for a local restaurant or store. As a lot of industries, including the food industry, suffered a lot of challenges because of the pandemic.
• Reaching out to loved one’s. Checking in with friends and family and letting them know that you are thinking about them can help bring a smile to their face.
• Send a thank-you email to a colleague. Or if you are in a higher position, send in emails of gratitude and praise your employees efforts in adjusting well with work-at-home.
• Take care of yourself by reading a book, watching your favorite movies, cooking or ordering in your favorite meals or by exercising.
• Give someone or yourself a genuine compliment.
• If you live with your partner or family, help them out by equally dividing the chores.

Let’s take a closer look into compliments and their effects.

What are compliments?

Imagine a day when you are feeling low or upset and someone compliments you. This can boost your mood and make you feel better about yourself, even though your problems haven’t disappeared. That’s the power of compliments – they can help boost our emotional well-being.

Researchers have found that when people are given compliments the reward center of their brain gets activated. When you compliment someone their brain will produce the happy hormone. This can benefit people struggling with signs of depression and can make them feel better even if it is just for that moment.

A compliment isn’t just a word of appreciation or caring. To a person dealing with depression ,anxiety disorders, panic attacks or just struggling to manage their emotional well-being, compliments can make a world of difference. It can make them feel seen, and if you praise their efforts of getting through the day, it can motivate  them to keep going. By giving them compliments you remind them of their value while also strengthening your relationship.

Compliments can mitigate the negative effects that long-term stress, panic attacks or anxiety attacks can have on a person and motivate them into looking after their emotional well-being.

Research has shown that compliments can even improve performance which creates a better social and work environment. Compliments and praise can boost self-efficacy, make one feel more competent and autonomous and produce positive outcomes.

Compliments can benefit the giver too! Giving a genuine compliment makes us look for the good in others. It helps us notice and appreciate the good around us and doing so can lead us to look at the good in ourselves. We also become a magnet for people to reciprocate love simply by respecting and appreciating them. This makes us realize that we all hold value in this world and are on this journey together.

Small acts of kindness go a long way by spreading joy and happiness.

While complimenting a stranger can make you feel nervous, you can start complimenting someone who is close to you, your family, friends and know circle.  I assure you the receiver won’t feel the same and you might end up making their day. Yes, it is true that some people are hesitant about receiving compliments. This could be because of their low self-esteem, anxiety disorders, or something else. But a genuine compliment will give them something to think about especially if it was about something they have put in effort for.

So what are you waiting for? Give someone a compliment today. Remember, your words hold value and can help someone! You can also help someone who has signs of depression by reaching out to AtEase by visiting our website www.mentalhealthatease.com and scheduling a therapy session today.