November 13 was World Kindness Day, a day established in 1998 to promote kindness throughout the world. What a great idea! It is a day dedicated to being kind, promoting kindness, and reflecting on ways kindness can bind and bring people together.

What if we thought about kindness more intentionally throughout the year? What would our homes, our schools, our community, our state, our nation and our world look like if we all stopped to offer kindness more each and every day?

At a time when heroes like healthcare professionals, grocery store clerks, educators and police officers are putting themselves in the middle of COVID-19 on a day-to-day basis by taking care of sick people, restocking shelves, finding new ways to teach students and keeping us safe, kindness toward one another is so important.

Studies show that selfless acts of kindness don’t just help the receiver, they also help the sender. Being kind sends a message to the brain that releases hormones that are known to lower stress and reduce anxiety.

I challenge you to think of ways that you can bring more kindness into your home, your workplace and your community throughout the upcoming weeks. As we head into the busy holiday season, now is a great time to spread a little extra kindness.

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Lynn Olberding is the executive director of the

Marshalltown Chamber of Commerce