Second Cup: Kindness cascades

More people benefit from your kindness than you think

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:03):
Welcome to Before Breakfast, a production of iHeartRadio. Good Morning,
This is Laura. Welcome to the Before Breakfast podcast. Today's
tip is that kindness cascades. When you are kind to someone,

(00:25):
it's highly likely that that person will be just a
little kinder to others too. Those folks might then show
more kindness to the other people in their lives. The
kindness keeps rippling down, which is much better than this
working in the opposite direction. So, if you've ever been

(00:47):
driving through roadwork that necessitated one lane merging into another,
you may have noticed an interesting phenomenon. Now, ideally this
would be a zipper merge sort of situation, but not
everyone knows to do that. So in the normal run
of things, where one lane of traffic feels like they
have possession of the continuing lane, if you let someone

(01:11):
merge in front of you, that person is more likely
to let someone else merge in front of them, and
that means you don't wind up with stopped cars in
one lane, with people honking and frustrated. Who knows exactly
why this happens. Maybe when someone lets you merge, you're
so relieved that you want to let someone else feel

(01:32):
that relief too. Or maybe you realize you had to
rely on someone else's kindness to get out of the
traffic jam, and so you feel less self protective and
more gracious you are inclined to let others merge too.
Or maybe it's just that a new norm is established
for a moment and everybody accepts for a time that

(01:54):
this is the community expectation. Whatever the specifics so our
thought process, one person's kindness can spark a chain reaction
of kindness from other people too. Kindness cascades. Sometimes the
cascade of kindness is similar and kind to the first kindness.

(02:18):
Other times, though one kindness paves the way for something
of a different flavor. Someone lets you merge in front
of them, and you arrive at your workplace and notice
a colleague carrying a heavy load into the building. You
offer to help out. Then that person sees there's very
little coffee left and makes a new pot. The generosity

(02:41):
and community mindedness continue. Or perhaps your partner makes the
bed even though that's your job, and you decide to
unload the dishwasher even though that's your partner's job. Or
maybe you end your team meeting with praise and gratitude
for all your team has accomplis in the past week.

(03:02):
They leave feeling good, and they go back to their
desks much more inclined to be appreciative of the people
they interact with. When you do something kind, you may
be benefiting not only the direct beneficiary of your kindness,
but also the next few people that person interacts with.

(03:23):
You may not see all the wonderful ripples flowing out
from your act of kindness, but it feels good to
imagine what you might have set in motion. It's kind
to let others imagine that too, So when you are
a recipient of a kindness, see what you can do
to pass it on. It really doesn't take much. We

(03:47):
all want to live in a kind world, and one
little act of kindness may set in motion myriad kindnesses.
That is a much better scenario than all of us
getting increasingly miffed at each other. In the meantime. This
is Laura. Thanks for listening, and here's to making the

(04:11):
most of our time. Hey, everybody, I'd love to hear
from you. You can send me your tips, your questions,
or anything else. Just connect with me on Twitter, Facebook
and Instagram at Before Breakfast Pod that's b E the

(04:32):
number four, then breakfast pod. You can also shoot me
an email at Before Breakfast Podcasts at iHeartMedia dot com
that before Breakfast is spelled out with all the letters.
Thanks so much, should I look forward to staying in touch.

(04:52):
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