As I'm sure a lot of you know, it's Mental Health Awareness Week, and this year's theme is kindness. 💖 

There's a little saying - "kindness is the only thing in the world that doubles when you share it". Kindness is in high demand at the moment, but thankfully, there's also plenty of this magical stuff going around. We're taught to be kind and generous from a young age, to love thy neighbour, be friendly and polite etc. 

It's always good to put these joyful little gestures out into the world, but the power of kindness is far stronger than I think most of us realise. Performing acts of kindness goes far deeper than that fluffy little feeling we get. It actually reduces stress, anxiety and depression. 

Every time you do something kind, your system gets flooded with all the good hormones - serotonin, endorphins and oxytocin. These are the top notch ones which help you feel calmer, happier and healthier, and who doesn't need those? 

And it doesn't just work for you, the kind person. The recipient gets it too! And anybody else who witnesses or is involved in this kind gesture. And better still, there's an endless supply! You can keep being kind, keep filling your system up with these lovely, gooey, awesome feelings, and you're only going to feel the benefits. It'll help you feel more resilient, more positive and might every create a chain reaction to spread more kindness around you and your community. 

It can be big or small, it doesn't matter. A smile, a wave, a friendly hello, a gift, a charitable donation, helping a friend or stranger - there's plenty of options. 

A lot gets written about kindness, about how we need to look after each other, especially now in the middle of a pandemic. But I think it gets overlooked as a hugely transformative tool that should be in all of our Happiness Toolkits that we can dive into to look after ourselves. 

As the badge says, Kindness Matters.

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