On this episode of The Karen Kenney Show, I’m diving into something near and dear to my heart - World Kindness Day!

Whether you’ve been with me since the beginning or you’re a brand new listener, I’m super excited to have you here as we discuss the power of spreading a little more love in the world.

I talk about the everyday ways we can all show kindness, from picking up trash in your neighborhood, to getting inspired by amazing role models like Mister Rogers and Bob Ross – who are members of my Spiritual Team and my personal heroes in kindness and compassion!

I share a sweet story about meeting a neighbor named Jessie and how she reminded me of the importance of not just “finding a kindness”, but “doing a kindness” and making it a part of our daily lives.

We also reminisce about “The Kindness Boomerang” video, which shows how one small, good deed can ripple out and inspire kindness in others.

It’s all about those moments and movements that remind us that we’re all connected and that every little action counts.

I also invite you to join me in the 31 Days of Kindness campaign I learned about – which is a free, easy, no-strings-attached way to spread some positivity.

Each day, you’ll get a little inspiration in your inbox along with a simple act of kindness to try – but only if it speaks to your heart.

It’s not about being perfect or keeping score, it’s about enjoying the chance to do a little more good -and- feel a whole lot better because of it!

Finally, I sprinkle in some cool science showing how kindness truly makes us healthier and happier – by boosting our mood, improving our well-being, and even helping us be kinder to ourselves. 

So, if you want to join in or just take away a little nugget of inspiration, I hope this episode encourages you to be the reason someone smiles today (including yourself).

Let’s keep on lifting each other up and spreading the love - because the world could always use more kindness! ❤️

KK’S KEY TAKEAWAYS:

• On this episode of The Karen Kenney Show, I celebrate World Kindness Day and the amazing impact of small acts of love.

• I share a heartwarming story about meeting a neighbor while cleaning up my street, and how our daily kindness can inspire others.

• We talk about the “Kindness Boomerang” Video and how one good deed can ripple out and make a big difference.

• I invite you to join the free 31 Days of Kindness campaign – you can get inspired and choose your own daily acts of kindness!

• Hear cool science about how kindness boosts our happiness, health, and even helps us be more compassionate to ourselves. 

• Let’s keep spreading positivity—one kind moment at a time!

BIO:

Spiritual Mentor and writer Karen Kenney uses dynamic storytelling and humor to bring a down-to-earth, no-BS perspective to spirituality and self-development. 

Bringing together tools that coach both the conscious and unconscious mind, Karen also helps clients deepen their personal connection to Self and Source, in relatable, practical, and actionable ways, so they can discover their unique understanding of spirituality.  

Her practice combines neuroscience, subconscious reprogramming, Integrative Hypnosis, somatic work, Spiritual Mentoring, and other holistic modalities to help regulate the nervous system, rewrite old stories, remove blocks, and reimagine what’s possible.

A passionate yoga teacher for 25+ years, a longtime student of A Course in Miracles, and a Gateless Writing instructor, Karen is also a frequent speaker, podcast guest, and retreat leader. She coaches both individuals and groups via her programs The Quest and The Nest. 

With The Karen Kenney Podcast, she encourages listeners to shift from a thought system of fear - to one of love, compassion, and personal responsibility. 

CONNECT WITH KAREN:

Website: http://karenkenney.com/

Podcast: https://www.karenkenney.com/podcast

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/karenkenneylive/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/karenkenneylive/

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@KarenKenney

It's the Karen Kenney show. Hey you guys. Welcome to the Karen

Kenney show. I'm super duper excited to be here with you

today. And if you're new here, welcome, welcome, welcome. I'm

so happy that you are spending a little time with us today, and

if you are not necessarily a new kid on the block anymore.

Remember New Kids on the Block? Still a fan, but if you are not

a new kid on the block, if you've been around a little bit,

welcome back. I'm so happy to have you here with us. So I was

going to dive right into this sucker. So you might have

noticed that the tagline for this podcast is spreading more

love in the world, spreading a little more love in the world. I

like to get that stuff around, you know what I mean? And so one

of the ways that I do like to do that, though, is by sharing

resources. Now, whether they're fun resources, sometimes they're

free resources, sometimes they're not free, but they're

still wicked helpful. But I like to share resources with people I

care about and that I know can make a difference, not only in

your life, but also out in the greater world, right? So that it

has an exponential effect. And this is the perfect time to be

talking about this, because today you guys, it just so

happens, right? My podcast come out on Thursday and today, this

Thursday, November 13, it's world Kindness Day. Yay. I'm a

wicked, you know, I'm a wicked, big fan of kindness, right? My,

some of my heroes are like kindness leaders, right? Mr.

Fred Rogers, Mr. Bob Ross, etc, etc. I'm really into kindness,

right? Being a vegan for like, 23 years, showing kindness and

compassion towards animals, being a yoga teacher, the

foundation of yoga, Ahimsa, non harm, compassion, right? Like

spreading kindness and love is kind of my jam. I'm into it.

Okay, so, about a month or so ago, I sent out an email to my

community, letting them know that world Kindness Day was

going to be coming up in about a month or so. And I sent them an

email, and I sent them this cool, you know, resource and

stuff like that. And then I was like, oh, shoot, I want to make

sure that I also share it with all of you. So here we are okay,

because you're my amazing listeners, and I super duper

appreciate you. Okay, so I'm just gonna start with something

right here. So remember how I told you, like back in October,

I was walking around my neighborhood like a little

weirdo

with my Thompson tigers, my Thompson Tigers cleanup team.

Patch on

if you're new here, if you're new here, in fifth grade, we had

a Thompson Tigers cleanup team so we would go around our

neighborhoods and, like, pick up trash or whatever. And I had

found it recently, and I was so inspired. I'm like, I'm gonna go

out my neighborhood. Because the route that I run, I kept seeing

trash on the side of the road, and I was like, hey, if nobody

else is gonna pick it up, I'm gonna pick it up, right? So I

was out there for a few days with trash bags, and I collected

like, all this trash off the streets. It was wicked fun. But

while I was out there, I'm trying to tell this fast,

because I know I already talked about this, but it's gonna make

a point. So while I was out there, I met this older woman

named Jesse, and Jesse stopped me, asked me what I was up to,

what I was doing. I told her what was going on. She told me

she lived way, way, way, way at the other end of the street, and

like, a couple of miles down the other end of the road. So I

mean, first of all, she gets out there and walks like so kudos to

her double A men hands for getting her ass in gear and

keeping, like, move it or lose it, you know what I'm saying. So

I thought that was awesome. And so she told me that she lived

down the other end of the road, and this is what she said to me,

and I quote. I wrote it down so I wouldn't forget. She says,

Every day, I try to find a kindness. And then she shook her

head, and she was like, Oops. Like, she made a mistake. She

misspoke. She's like, I mean, do a kindness. And she goes, and

you've inspired me to get out there and clean up my end of the

street too. And first of all, I just love that idea I talked

about this before, of quote, unquote, finding a kindness.

Like, how sweet is that? And then also, I love doing a

kindness each day. And I saw her the other day. I was driving

down the street, and I saw her out there, power walking, doing

her thing. And it made me think of her and this idea of finding

a kindness or doing a kindness, and that reminded me of a video

from like, 14 years ago. And I wonder if you guys remember it

too, double Amen hands, if you do. But it was a video called

The kindness Boomerang, and it was put out by a company. I want

to say it was like life vest, the life vest inside, or

whatever. It's a YouTube video. I'm going to put the the link to

it in the in the show notes. So if you want to watch that

sucker, you can, but you might remember it yourself. So it kind

of starts off where there's a kid on a skateboard. So there's

like, three girls in front of him skateboarding. He's behind,

and he's holding something in his hand, and so he's riding his

skateboard, and he totally wipes out. And a construction worker

like, you know, wearing the bright day globe vest, right?

Like, stops what he's doing, helps the kid up, and the kid

like, smiles at him. They have this moment, okay? The kid

starts to go down the street a smidge more. He like, turns

around. He's got his skateboard under his arm, and he sees an

old lady, like, struggling with her grocery bags. So then this

kid helps the old lady pick something up off the ground,

helps the old lady walks across the street with her grocery

bags, right? So they have this moment where, now that the

kindness is Boomerang, right? And then the old lady, like,

steps onto the sidewalk. She's walking down the street, and she

sees a woman, like, struggling with her purse, like, you know,

scourging through her purse, like trying to find some change

for the pack and meet up. And so the lady, the old lady, gives

her some coins to put in the parking meter. So you get the

gist of it, right? It's a ripple of kindness and action. It's a

ripple effect. And like I said, if you want to watch the whole

thing, it's like five minutes long. It's fantastic. And the

way that it ends, it comes all the way back around where at the

very end the Boomerang is that the construction work is like on

the street. And there's a waitress inside the restaurant

where he's working in front of and it's a hot day, and she

comes out and she brings him a glass of water. So you see how

this kindness, like boomerangs all the way around, and

Boomerang is one of those words that I just love to I think

there's certain words that I that I really dig. I love the

idea of an echo, and I love the idea of this boomerang. So it

was a really, really, really cool thing. So when I discovered

how, I discovered that today was World Kindness Day. I know my

friend Katie like in the past, has, like she does these great

resources for educators, home schoolers, teachers, right?

Parents, all on like, you know, like she's a member of like, TPT

Teachers Pay Teachers. She also has her own website, Kirsten

caboodle, and she sells her these amazing workbooks on

Amazon as well. And I know way in the past, like she's, you

know, and probably, and recently, she's done a thing on

world Kindness Day. But how I found out about the resource

that I'm going to share with you today on it's like 31 days of

kindness. I learned about this from my friend Tess masters.

Tess Masters is a lot of things. One of the things she is is

she's an author, she's an actor. She's known. She's kind of world

famous. She's known as the blender girl. Tess is actually

going to be on the podcast later this month, so be looking out

for that. But she told me about this 31 days of kindness

campaign, and I couldn't wait to share it with you guys. So Tess

basically said that her friend and I wrote it down again,

because I'd never like to get these things wrong. Her friend

Dr Michelle Robin, who is the founder of a company called

small changes big shifts. So her friend, Dr Michelle Robin,

created this campaign six years ago, and Tess was saying that

she looks forward to doing it every single year. And I was

like, Cool, I'm in. Sign me up. Like, let's go. We're gonna do

this thing. Okay, so today, being world Kindness Day, I

thought this is the perfect resource to share with you guys.

If you're into it, if you're into doing kind things, if

you're into kindness, if you think the world could use a

little more kindness, right? I mean, who here doesn't think

that the world could use a little bit more kindness? Okay,

so I signed up to do this sucka, and now I'm inviting you to do

it along with me. Now the good news is, is it's free to

participate number one, and then number two, nobody's trying to

sell you anything. There's no offer at the end, there's no

catch. There's no like, whatever. This is literally just

a free resource, a way to participate in something that's

really beautiful and helpful. And nobody's selling me

anything. Okay? It's just a wicked good chance. I always say

it's a wicked fun chance to do good and feel good. And we're

going to talk about the do good in the feel good in a moment.

Because kindness is more than just, quote, unquote, the right

thing to do, right? I'm making little air quotes. Yes, it's a

beautiful thing to do. It's a spiritual act. I think kindness.

I think, you know, anytime you extend love and show kindness. I

always say, like, God is there, right? Like, the best of the

universe is there. And they say Rob and Dr Michelle Robin on the

website for this where you sign up, which I will also share the

link, it says this, and a time when the world feels feels more

divided than ever, kindness is a powerful force for unity and

healing, which, yeah, 100% so this is how it works. This is

how, like you do this whole thing. And I have a little

graphic here too, but most of you are listening. You're

probably not watching, even though I have, you know, this

comes out as a video as well, in case you didn't know that, on my

YouTube channel, and if you just go to, you know, YouTube, and

then put in at Kenney. Karen Kenney, my name, like all my

videos, will come up. So step one, here's the deal. You sign

up. You sign up for this campaign, and they call it a

campaign and not a challenge, for a reason. And we'll get

there in a second. So step one is you, you sign up. And here's

the link. I'm also going to put it in the show notes. But if

you're just there and you got a pen and you want to write this

sucker down, this is what you do. What you do. You go to small

changes, big shifts.com/kindness, okay, small

changes, big shifts, plural.com/kindness,

and that's how you get there. And what's going to happen is

this, so each morning for 31 days, you are going to get an

email, and in this email, it's very simple, here's what you

get. You're going to get a daily quote about kindness that you

can get inspired by. You'll be given a random act of kindness

that you can and this is the important word, choose to do

this isn't a challenge, right? It is a campaign, which means

you have something that you like. You don't have to do this

every day. I always say this is a get to you get to do it every

day. It's not like force, and there's no guilt or stress or

whatever involved in this. Do the ones that ring true for you.

Do the ones that inspire you. Do the ones that light up your hat.

You know what I mean? Don't make this hot. Don't make yourself

bad if you miss a day or whatever. Okay, this is a get to

so all they want you to do is like simply, just follow your

hat and do what feels right for you. And then this is how you're

going to learn over these 31 days how the act of kindness

greatly impacts you. It impacts you, it impacts the world. It

impacts your well being, because both give up and receive a

receive, receive from this. And again, we'll talk about that in

a moment. And then I always say in step three, you get to have a

blast practicing spreading kindness in some way each day.

But here's what happened. Okay, number one, I'm holding up a

little graphic from their website. Step one, you sign up.

You receive 31 you you can sign up. You can invite your friends.

Let's keep it simple, and then you're going to start to receive

your first email with a quote, a small message and an act of

kindness idea. All right, it's going to be a little quote, a

little message and an act of kindness idea, and this is what

it says. It goes on, you get to choose whether you'd like to do

the act of kindness. Again, it's a campaign, not a challenge,

because we want people to pick the ones that speak to their

heart. I love that number five. This is so good. This is so

good. Listen to this. Showing kindness goes beyond just being

nice. In fact, researchers have proven simple acts have a

profound impact on the physical and the mental health, the

mental health of both the giver and the receiver. So this email

series takes you on a journey to discover why kindness matters to

your well being, and why it not only lifts you up, but creates

an ongoing ripple of good in the world. Like, How fantastic is

that? But like, now, let's get into the science, though,

because we all know, like when you do something kind, when you

do something nice, it feels good, yes, but it's like, Why

does it feel good? What's going on inside of you? It feels good,

obviously, for the person to receive it, right? Unless they

kind of, you know, a lot of people kind of suck at receiving

love. We're going to talk about that in a minute, right? But

little acts of kindness are like so powerful. And you know, even

most people can at least receive that, even if, on the inside,

they don't believe that they're worthy or deserve it or

whatever. But most people can usually receive a little, kind

little act, okay, but get this. Here's the science. Check this

out so you UC, Berkeley, they did this research, and they

found that people who were kind, just by simply being kind, which

look kindness created us kind. Of course, in Miracle says

kindness created us kind. It is our natural. It is who we are.

Love is who we are. Kindness is a natural extension of that,

right? Like, spiritually, this is our DNA imprint kindness,

okay. But UC Berkeley found that people who are kind tended to

have highest self esteem, yes, who doesn't want that? A

greatest sense of self efficacy, right? Self efficient, feeling

like you're capable of doing things. Yes, double check, Sign

me up. Less depression. No brainer, less anxiety, amazing

and improved physical health. So listen to that people who are

kind tended to have higher self esteem, greater sense of self

efficacy, less. Depression, anxiety and overall improved

physical health. And here's the thing, because showing and

receiving kindness, listen to this, it releases three natural

chemicals up in the old noggin, up in our old brain, right? This

is what gets released, oxytocin, that feel good, chemical, that

love chemical, you know, when you're petting your dog and your

dog, like, you get to pet your dog, and it makes you so happy,

and your dog's brain is firing oxytocin, too, and you guys are

sharing that moment, right? And that little butt, butt is

wiggling, and their chest is like, exposed to and like

they're just so happy when you pet your animals, right? Same

thing when you hug somebody, right, and you both get that

really good rush of like, feel good. Chemicals, right?

Oxytocin, it also releases serotonin and dopamine, okay?

Oxytocin helps regulate our emotional responses to

situations. Just think about this. I'm going to say this

again because really take a moment to pause and think about

how now we got the ripple we got the ripple effect. We got the

kindness boomerang happening just by doing kindness inside of

ourselves, right? These amazing chemicals get released, and

oxytocin helps regulate our emotional responses to

situations. So this means that we're maybe more prepared to be

calm, to not react from fear, to not be a total dickhead, right

to like. Put a comma in our commentary, and choose who and

how we want to be and how we want to show up. Dopamine

regulates our mood and our muscle movement. This is so

important, mood regulation. Again, when your mood is

regulated, how you show up and respond emotionally, the words

that come out of your mouth, your patience, your kindness,

your response is going to be totally different. And

serotonin, it also affects mood, sleep and digestion, which we

know so many people, including maybe even you, like, double A

men hands, if that applies to you, like, hey, who couldn't?

Most people could use a little more help, having better sleep,

having better digestion, having better states of mind. You know

what I mean? Because when you have when you're in a funk, or

if you're not in a good place, in your mind, it really, it

really frames our perspective and how we look at the world and

interact with the world, right? So overall, scientists learn

that people who are kind or regularly engaged in informal

acts of kindness tend to have higher well being, which in

other words, is like saying that we are well. We're well in our

mind, in our body and in our spirit, which is is pretty is

pretty fantastic.

It also helps right for us to have we're better equipped to

face obstacles with strength, clarity and calmness. So this is

like a win, win, win win, win win, when we participate in this

31 days of kindness, and today, being world Kindness Day, who

doesn't want to kick it off with this sucker? Okay, here's

another thing, when we show kindness, because here's a cool

thing about practicing for 31 days, you get to, first and

foremost, also practice on extending kindness to yourself.

And when you get better, it's just facts when you get better,

right? Spiritual wisdom here, when you get better at extending

kindness, aka love, compassion, tenderness, mercy, all these

things, because kindness, kind of involves all of these other

things. When you extend kindness and show it to yourselves, We

are far more likely to extend and show that kindness to

others, to the people around us, and whether that's your kids,

whether that's your furry kids, whether that's your sweetie, a

partner, your best friend, your neighbor, your family, whatever,

your co workers, right? The ripple effect it goes out, and

the reality of it is, is that we kind of, as I was saying

earlier, we kind of suck sometimes at receiving kindness,

especially from ourselves. We sometimes can be really brutal

to ourselves and wicked hat on ourselves, and set an

expectation in a bar that is so high that it's almost impossible

to meet. And we don't take the time to just slow down and say,

like, Hey, I could maybe be a little nicer to myself. I could

maybe talk to myself a little more kindly, you know what I

mean. So like anything else, practice, I always say practice

helps to make progress. It's not about doing it perfectly.

Practice makes progress. So over these 31 days of kindness, you

get to practice being kind towards yourself and that alone

right when you start to set your like, base like, call it your

temperature, or your base setting as, yeah, I'm just not

going to talk to myself like an asshole today. I'm gonna I'm

gonna recognize and slow down and be kind and use better words

tell myself. Better stories about myself. You know what I

mean. This is very powerful stuff. And so when you start to

do that and you practice it for 31 days, this is how we can

start to create shifts in perception, in our mind, from

fear to love. This is how we start to create better habits.

This is how we start to create better patterns, better ways of

being. We're already so deeply conditioned from our childhood,

from our past, from our history, right? Our families, etc. And

now we get to have a say, and we start by getting to practice in

a wicked fun way. And you don't have to come up with these

suckers. Remember, each day for 31 days, you're going to get in

the mail, in your email, you're going to get a little quote that

inspires, right, a little act of kindness that you get to choose

to do or not do, right? It's going to be like, super duper

helpful, and it's it's really great, and you learn how it

impacts your well being. So I already signed up. Okay? I

already received my first 31 days of kindness email. I'm

really feeling jazzed up, and I'm wicked excited to spread a

little more kindness and love in the world. And here's the thing,

if this show and I get nothing from this, I'm meaning like, I'm

not getting paid. There's no, like, whatever. I'm just doing

this because I think it's such a fantastic idea, and you don't

have to do this, like, meaning you could just decide that for,

like, the next, whatever, however, many days, 30 days, I'm

going to send a little love note to somebody. I'm going to you

can do your own version of the kindness thing, right? But if

this inspires you to sign up specifically for the 31 days of

kindness, if you want to sign up too, please write to me. Send up

a flare, let me know you're doing it with me, because it'd

be really fun to know that you're doing it right alongside

me. And if you think there's somebody else who could would

enjoy doing this, share this with them. Share this episode

with them. They'll get in the show notes, right if you just go

to Karen kenney.com/podcast or if you're on my email list and

you get this email, this podcast in your inbox every Thursday

morning. Just forward that sucker. If you're not on my list

and you want to have this show, sign up in your inbox every

morning. It's just on Thursdays, it's just Karen kenney.com/sign

up. So you guys, let's start a ripple of kindness. Let's lift

each other up without love and our and our being nice, right?

Doing kind things to each other. And let's make Mr. Rogers proud.

Mr. Rogers taught us all about this stuff. Bob Ross taught us

about being kind to ourselves as well, right? He I keep pointing

back there, if you, if you're not watching the show, you're

like, what I keep pointing behind me, because he's sitting

behind me over there, all right? And Yeah, and like, Look all the

spiritual traditions tell us love thy neighbor, right? Like,

be kind to each other. This is the gig. Like, this is the gig

baseline, be kind to yourself, be kind to animals, be kind to

one another. This is a wicked fun opportunity to do that. So

again, the link, if you want to just type it in yourself. It's

small changes, big shifts, calm slash kindness. And I'll also

put the link to that YouTube video for the the kindness

Boomerang, because it's pretty fun. It's pretty fun to see. And

I think that just, you know, the world right now, I mean, always,

always, always, the world can use more kindness. And right

now, you know, especially, and kindness is just one of those

things that helps to bridge the gap when we have division, when

we have, like, so much belief in separation, and when we're

othering other people all the time, right? So this is a

beautiful way to kind of again, like I said, start a ripple of

kindness, lift each other up and spread a little more love in the

world. So wherever you go, remember, write to me, let me

know if you're doing this okay, wherever you go, may you leave

the people, the animals, yourself, the place in the

environment, the planet, better than how you found it, wherever

you go, may you and your love and your energy and your

presence and your kindness be a blessing. I already know that it

will be okay. Bye. Hey. Thanks so much for listening to the

show. I really love spending some time together. Now, if you

dig the show or know someone that could benefit from this

episode, please share it with them and help me to spread the

good word and the love. And if you want to be in the know about

all of my upcoming shenanigans, head on over to Karen

kenney.com/sign, up and join my list. It'll be wicked fun to

stay in touch. Bye. You.