Compassionate Houston

COMPASSIONATE HOUSTON’S “PROJECT KINDNESS” 

How it all began

In Winter 2014, Pam Lewis, Ph.D., completed Rev. Betty Adams’ first Cultivating Compassion Training (CCT) course. Betty challenged her graduating class members to create Compassion Week projects for Compassionate Houston’s annual event the next April (2015), using new insights. Pam quickly experienced compassion’s creative and purposeful inspiration and an overwhelming sense of agency with Betty’s challenge. She designed a structured interview format to be used as a tool to mindfully explore respondents’ lifetime memories of kindness/compassion. She recruited residents from a senior living facility (respondents) to be paired with a volunteer (interviewers) from the membership of Insight Meditation Houston (IMH), a partner of Compassionate Houston, for these conversations.

“Project Kindness” was born!

Phase 1 (and subsequent iterations) are described below. Betty Adam invited Pam to join the Compassionate Houston Board in 2015. Pam brought Project Kindness under Compassionate Houston’s community programs’ umbrella, where it is finding new applications. As of this update, the Project has been used only for intergenerational interventions, but other intercultural and community-building applications are foreseen.

Feelings of isolation, loneliness, and separation affect most of us at one time or another. It is part of the human condition. For some, these feelings may be chronic and debilitating. At times (as during a pandemic), more of us may be affected and for longer periods. And, stereotyping, bias, and distancing of others who are unlike us in some way also result in feelings of separation and suffering.

Kindness and compassion can help overcome barriers of all types. Significant research from many fields confirms the benefits, personal as well as collective, of kind and compassionate behaviors. A sample of findings:

• differing levels of cellular inflammation at the physical level;

• the strong role of one’s sense of social connection on their levels of immune function, anxiety and depression;

• the buffering effect of a compassionate lifestyle against stress;

• and the broadening perspective beyond ourselves that is shown to reduce depression and anxiety.

Some research shows that giving to others even increases well-being above and beyond what we experience when spending money on ourselves. This is shown to be true across the world. It is true for children as young as two. Acts of kindness release both endorphins and oxytocin.

When those in power show kindness, it can have a trickle-down effect, just as unkindness does.

Thus, kindness can spread in a community or organization even if merely witnessed. When we see someone acting pro-socially or kindly, we experience “moral elevation”. That not only feels good but inspires us to do the same. This relationship is even stronger when kindness is positively reinforced and becomes a social norm of collaboration, cooperation and generosity.

Research demonstrates that in each case there is a significant increase in the production of serotonin, a key hormone in mood and feelings of well-being, and functioning of the immune system.

Kindness transcends the separateness we often experience as human beings and connects us to one another. The person who performs the kind act experiences this, and often the recipient of the act feels that connection. In witnessing or observing the act, we become part of the network too.

The Evolving Phases of Project Kindness and Testimonials

From the early beginnings with Insight Meditation Houston in 2015 to our evolving collaboration with Houston Community College, read about the various phases and research of this inspiring project. > READ MORE HERE

celebratiNG Project KIndness 2023 at Brazos Towers

At the conclusion of Project Kindness (PK) 2023, mentors, students and the program committee came together at Brazos Towers Senior Living on November 29 for a chance to meet in person, share their experiences, and to create, once again, KindCards, a project initiated by board member and artist Sneha Bhavsar, to pass on as a tangible example of the ripple effects of kindness.

On November 13, 2023, ABC13 Houston kicked off their pm program with a live feature by highlighting World Kindness Day and introduced our very own initiative, "PROJECT KINDNESS." The spotlight was on a senior volunteer and student who connected over a joint love for woodworking and Dante’s poetry!

Their story perfectly summed up the project's mission, showcasing the power of kindness across generations.

Project Kindness Celebration 2022