NOT in the slow lane YET Blog

The blog is about living life after 70 with joy, resilience, and purpose. NOT in the slow lane, YET is a source of positive, helpful advice encouraging people to set and achieve goals and find joy in life. The blog will cover personal experiences and thoughts and concerns. Topics of blogs will be health, retirement, fashion, travel, and living in continuing care retirement communities. The blogs will be short and appear at least once a month on my website www.nadineblock.com or by email if you choose. Come walk with me.

The Quiet Power of Kindness: Stories from Our Senior Community

In our senior community, a resident committee gives awards for acts of kindness. The winners are applauded at meetings and receive gifts, such as a special treat from the Chef or lunch with the Executive Director. Residents nominate people living in our community who have done something nice for them. They put notes in the “Acts of Kindness” box:

• “My neighbor made homemade chicken soup for me when I was sick.”
• “My neighbor made a handmade card for me on my birthday.”
• “My new friend showed me how to read our dining receipts.”

The Science of Kindness:

Group recognition of acts of kindness improves mental health for both the receivers and the givers. Two beneficial chemicals, oxytocin and dopamine, are released. They bring us happiness and help alleviate stress. It has a ripple effect increasing acts of kindness. The awards can lead the community to share kindness as a positive value to hold and practice.

Helping others has its own rewards.

I deliver newspapers to my floor about 7:15 am. I am an early riser. I collect the newspapers for my floor at the front desk and deliver them to the subscribers’ doors. Our daily newspaper, the Columbus Dispatch, started dropping off the bundles of papers in the front lobby instead of delivering them to subscribers’ doors about three years ago. I knew taking the volunteer delivery job would be a lifetime one, as door-to-door newspaper delivery was becoming outdated. I send emails to my subscribers when their papers are late or do not arrive. I deliver their papers to the Health Care Center when they are ill. I enjoy seeing the first-shift employees come to work. We greet one another warmly. I wake up in the morning, not thinking that delivering papers is an onerous chore. I can do it; I remain mobile without assistance and have the strength to do the task. I am grateful to be healthy and useful.

We all get cynical at times.

There are a couple of folks at the Acts of Kindness awards who may have started out thinking, “Oh boy, it’s do-gooder time.”  There are always a few cynics who see half-empty glasses rather than half-full. They exclude people they dislike and gossip about them. They believe most people are mean, and those who appear joyful are phony.

Problems of aging can exacerbate cynicism:  Aches, pains, illnesses, mobility problems, loneliness, financial problems, disillusionment with life, and losing family and friends through death. There is truth in “Old age isn’t for sissies.”

Cynicism is not just being grumpy and having chronic negativity. It can lead to loneliness, loss of trust, depression, physical health problems, and even reduce longevity.

When I find myself getting cynical, I practice the following, which makes me think more deeply:

I challenge my thoughts: Instead of thinking, “People are mean,” I ask myself, “Are they always mean?”  Are all people mean?

I reframe it: “Sometimes people act mean, but maybe they are in pain or something bad just happened to them.”

I congratulate myself on challenging my cynical thoughts. Sometimes I take out my “atta girl notebook” and put a star on it. Or, more likely, I will order new tennis shoes from Amazon as a gift to myself.

Two quotes about acts of kindness:

 “When you are kind to others, it not only changes you, but it also changes the world.”  Harold Kushner

“Be kind, for everyone you meet is fighting a battle you know nothing about.”   Wendy Mass

 

What do you do to provide small gestures of kindness to your neighbors? Imagine the joy a small gesture can bring to someone who is feeling forgotten. We can all make that difference.

 

Note: CoPilot AI editing tools used 7-25-25