A Secret Kindness Mission

A blog post from 15th January 2018

On the 23rd of January Wales are hosting ‘Welsh Happiness Day’. According to figures released by the ONS, Wales often lags behind the rest of the UK in terms of levels of happiness and so BBC Wales is hoping to make the nation a little bit happier… by celebrating Welsh Happiness Day. There will be a week of programmes, looking at mental wellbeing  and lots of people and organisations are getting involved in this by sharing small and big ways to boost the wellbeing and happiness of the people of Wales.

So as this is a subject close to my heart, I thought I would share with you something I did before Christmas that really boosted the happiness levels of a school in Cardiff. I want to send you this as a mission and gift because I did it with 400 teenagers and it was awesome! In December, I ran an uplifting workshop with Year 7 and 8 students all about having a positive mindset and being kind to themselves and others. I was explaining to them how kindness towards others not only brings joy and happiness to the person receiving it, but also releases happy chemicals in our bodies too – so it’s a win win!

I set them a secret kindness mission and within seconds they were writing their thank you messages to friends, family, teachers and even me! They were telling me all the places they were going to plant their messages so the person would have a lovely surprise when they found them. The energy in the room was electric!

As it’s January and all this talk of ‘Blue Monday’, ‘January blues’ blah blah… this is the perfect ‘pick me up’ and is such a simple thing to do. Just imagine finding a note in an unsuspecting place from someone giving you a big shout out, thanking and appreciating you for something you’ve done for them or for just being you. It would bloody make your day wouldn’t it!? And it would also make their day too, because as I was explaining to the students, when we take the time to really thank someone or show kindness this boosts our happiness too and that has a ripple effect out to everyone around us.

And as I was packing away after my session, I found this note in my folder – WOW. I thought to myself ‘Mission complete’!