Kindness Goals

1 January, 2024

The purpose of education is to open the mind and enable it to accept a diversity of ideas, people, and opinions. This broadening of the mind also brings acceptance of others, which is the ground for kindness and empathy.

Kindness plays a crucial role in creating a compassionate and inclusive society. When individuals actively practice kindness, it sets an example for others and encourages a ripple effect of positive behaviour. It also helps bridge divides, reduce prejudices, and promote understanding among diverse groups of people.

At Chinmaya Vidyalaya, the learners are encouraged to practice active kindness as it contributes to their emotional well-being. When children engage in acts of kindness, they experience positive emotions such as happiness, empathy, and gratitude. They cultivate a positive self-image and an enhanced sense of belonging and connectedness with others.

In the school environment, learning active kindness helps prevent bullying. It also helps the students differentiate between right and wrong and encourages them to act fairly and compassionately.

Kindness also leads to better learning outcomes, as children learn better when they feel safe, supported, and valued by their peers and teachers. The collaborative learning environment creates positive classroom dynamics, enhancing the overall educational experience.

The parents can support the children in practising active kindness by discussing and setting kindness goals, in conjunction with them. It can help individuals cultivate a habit of kindness and support intentional efforts to incorporate acts of kindness into their daily lives.

An easy way to create the family’s kindness goals is listed below.

Family and personal values - Reflect on your values and find the alignment between them and kindness.
Focus areas - Determine how you want to practise kindness. It can be towards family, friends, colleagues, strangers, animals, or the environment. It can also include being emotionally available for loved ones.
Set your goals - Decide on the frequency of the acts of kindness. It can range from a daily act to a monthly volunteering, keeping the other commitments in mind.
Create an action plan - List down the ways to achieve the goals you have set for yourself. Include the process like brainstorming for ideas, finding the organisations to volunteer for, and scheduling the hours.
Monitor your progress - Regular monitoring will keep you motivated while helping you be accountable.
Let the plan evolve - The regular monitoring will give you multiple insights regarding your kindness goals, and be open to evaluating and adjusting them. You can expand the goals by increasing the frequency or adding new areas or people to be kind to.
Introspect - Assess the impact of your kindness campaign on yourself and others. Use the insights to refine your goals and broaden the scope of your work.
Kindness to Self - This is the most important aspect of the kindness journey. The goals should not add stress to your life. The process should be joyful as this journey is a reward in itself.