Let’s Spread Kindness in Beverly

By Lisa Catania, LCSW
Printed in The Villager, February 2014

Have you ever observed the power of an unexpected act of kindness?  The power you feel in yourself when you put a kind thought quickly into action and surprise someone with help or a small gift?  Or, the happiness you feel when you take the time to care for someone in a thoughtful way?  And the delight you feel when someone treats you kindly with no expectation of return?  It’s like magic, and creates a special feel-good feeling that feels like warmth, safety, love, luck.

I remember the time my car hit a monster pothole, busting my tire and forcing me to pull over in an unfamiliar neighborhood.  A kind gentleman appeared from his house, and dealt with the freezing cold weather to help me – in return he expected and wanted nothing.  The gift he gave me was more than a securely attached spare tire, he reminded me that people are kind and that I am not alone and unseen in a moment when I felt vulnerable.

There have been other times I have felt vulnerable and have wondered if the world is a safe place, especially when the Sandy Hook tragedy happened last winter.  I found solace in the invitation by a NBC News Correspondent, Ann Curry, to commit “26 acts of kindness” to honor the loss of the all the children and teachers.  What a wonderful proposition to help people feel power in doing something positive and develop a sense of communal healing.  I donated money for orphans in India to be provided with formula – it truly helped me to be a part of “something good”.

The best way to fight hatred, pain, fear and hurt is to act to create a world that reinforces the opposite:  kindness in action.  Kindness also creates community when we see ourselves in other people and offer help when it’s needed or acts of kindness when they are least expected.

Last February I discovered “Random Acts of Kindness week”.  I purchased a bunch of Dunkin Donuts gift cards and gave them to each of Clissold’s crossing guards and thanked them for showing up like postal carriers – through rain and shine and snow and below zero temperatures.  Smiles abounded!

For Random Acts of Kindness week this year (February 10-16^th), Beverly Therapists and Bully Free Beverly invite you to join us in spreading random acts of kindness in our neighborhood.  Surprise someone by paying for their cup of coffee, or dusting the snow off their car, or giving someone in a bus shelter a prepaid fare card, or writing an anonymous note of encouragement, or simply giving a stranger a rose and wishing them a good day…. You can visit www.randomactsofkindness.org for inspirational stories and wonderful inspiration.

To hopefully overwhelm our community with kindness we are printing up “random acts of kindness cards” and will ask local businesses to make them available on their countertops.  We are hoping you can commit some kind acts and give one of these cards to continue the cycle of kindness!  Please let us know what you have given or received: post on our Facebook page: www.facebook.com/beverly.therapy; tweet us @bev_therapists; #kindnessinbeverly; or leave me a voicemail at 773-719-1751 and I’ll spread the word for you!   We are hoping that the cards and acts of kindness will continue to show up in random places for months to come as all the good hearts in our neighborhood will continue to circulate acts of kindness for each other.