Kindness Is Good For The Brain

The friendliness is not easy to define. The word is associated with empathy and solidarity, but it is not limited to these descriptions. It’s not just a trait, it’s a human value. That it is shaped and enriched by an ethical choice means that it is more than a skill.

In the dictionary, kindness is defined as the tendency to do good. The problem is that “good” is a relative concept. A more precise meaning would be that kindness is an ability to have compassion. In other words, kindness means feeling the suffering of others as if it was your own and trying to eliminate it.

“To worry about the happiness of others is to find our own.”

Plato

This beautiful quality doesn’t just affect other people. We can also express friendliness towards other living beings. It can even be applicable to things that are not living. And it could be interpreted as the desire to keep something as it is. This means that we can be kind to a painting or a stone in the street.

Friendliness is an extraordinary quality because it contains so many other qualities. Amidst friendliness there is love, respect, solidarity, generosity, and much more. It involves a remarkable spiritual and mental development. Thanks to many studies, scientists have also managed to prove that friendliness can be found in the brain as a property. They have shown that it is the basis for a meaningful quality of life.

The brain area of ​​friendliness

A group of scientists from Oxford University and University College London have identified an area in the brain where friendliness resides. The group led by Dr. Patricia Lockwood worked with a group of volunteers. They interviewed them to find out which symbols were beneficial for themselves and for others.

While the volunteers did their job, their brains were monitored by the MRI. The experiment encouraged participants to look at and appreciate the ways in which the symbols can help other people. They had to determine whether each symbol would only work for them or whether it would be useful for others as well.

Whenever a volunteer discovered how the symbol has helped others, only one area in the brain was activated. This area is called the “anterior cingulate cortex”. Of course, the cortex is not just a matter of brain function. We have to remember that this wonderful organ has an incredible plasticity. Its function is shaped by experience and behavior.

Kindness heals the brain

The neuropsychologist Richard Davidson carried out a study at the university in Wisconsin after a trip to India. In 1992 he met the Dalai Lama who asked him a question that made quite an impression on him: “I admire your work, but I think you are very focused on the stress, anxiety and depression. Have you not thought about focusing your neuroscientific studies on kindness, tenderness, and compassion? “

Richard Davidson conducted a number of studies that explored this question. He showed, for example, that some structures in the brain can change in just two hours. A calm mind by and large produces well-being. And to have a calm brain, all you need is a few hours of meditation. This was scientifically measured in his laboratory.

In the same way, he found that neural circuits of empathy are not the same as those of compassion. To arrive at compassion (another kind of kindness), you have to go the path of sensitivity, sympathy and empathy. At the highest level is compassion. Compassion is a step beyond the ability to perceive, feel, and understand the other person’s suffering. It implies a call to action when one sees someone else’s suffering.

Davidson also discovered that kindness and tenderness increase well-being in other areas of life. In a study of children and adolescents, when the scientists taught them to be more compassionate and loving, a number of cerebral changes were documented. They all showed improvements in school and in their health. The ability to be compassionate can be learned. Kindness is a result of a deliberate effort to improve our inner selves.