COVID Acts of Kindness are Therapeutic
During a pandemic, it’s easy to fall into “me” land. We’re all fending for ourselves. Or rather, we’re all fending for our own sanity.
Sometimes, there are heartwarming tales of kindness that people do during tough times. Throughout history, there have been people who step up to the plate during difficult times and give back through extraordinary gestures of kindness. In the 1918 flu pandemic, nurses in Philadelphia made home visits, writes History.com.
During the current pandemic, some people have been appealing to their better nature to draw strength. The NY Times collected reader stories of kind acts during the pandemic, where readers shared simple acts like a 22 year old drummer who organized a street dance party for his neighbors.
The thing about kindness is that it empowers you, especially during moments where your mental health is suffering. Acts of kindness are scientifically proven to give you a boost of oxytocin, commonly known as “the love hormone,” according to Cedars Sinai Hospital.
A decade old Japanese study found that happier people were also kinder, write Shoba Sreenivasan, Ph.D., and Linda E. Weinberger, Ph.D. from Psychology Today.
Even simple tales of neighbors bringing food for families struck with COVID (like in the video below) show the resilience of the human spirit during times of darkness.
Happiness is therapeutic. And these days, after seven months of lockdown, we need all the love hormone we can get.
