The Spreading Kindness Campaign is a grassroots citizen’s initiative to create a culture of kindness in Eugene and Springfield, Oregon. One small act of kindness at a time. Spreading Kindness encourages random and intentional acts of kindness throughout all aspects of our community, including personal, family, neighborhoods, schools, government, policing, businesses and organizations.
Spread the Word
Humans are unique in two ways. They are unusually kind toward their in-group and unusually unkind toward those outside their group. The best way to increase kindness in our city and life is to spread the word about it. Talk about kindness to family, groups, and friends. Rename programs to include the word kind (i.e., instead of giving tree, kindness tree or instead of food boxes, kindness boxes.) Kindness is teachable and contagious. The more you use the word, the more you use it with others, the more aware people become.
Close caring relationships are the most important factor in a happy and fulfilling life and kindness is the most important factor in having close caring relationships.
Kindness is attributed to living longer and better health (see the Rabbit Effect). Kindness decreases stress, pain, blood pressure, anxiety, and depression. Kindness increases energy, pleasure, serotonin, and oxytocin (the love hormone). Forget survival of the fittest! It’s the kindness that helps.
How Can You Participate?
How do you become more kind? This website has lots of ideas that include:
- communicating empathy and kindness
- mindful listening, reliability, setting and honoring boundaries, and bringing integrity to friendships
- practicing emotional generosity in intimate relationships
- self-care practices including mindfulness, meditation, and optimizing health through nutrition and exercise
How do you spread kindness? The website has lots of ideas for that, also, which include:
- hosting a kindness dinner party
- loving the earth
- supporting kindness-focused organizations
- sending letters to the editor
- putting out lawn signs