Fast Fitness - Pro-Social Behavior Improves Health of All

Here is Friday Fast Fitness - Doing selfless good is not only for the benefit of the receiver. Move your body and brain to make a happier world, passed on like a game of tag.

Lily is one of my martial arts students. She writes:

"In my Psychology class called “Child and Adolescent Development” my teacher asked each of us to do simple acts of kindness throughout the semester.

"Pro-social behavior is the opposite of antisocial behavior. The ideas behind doing simple acts of kindness are as follows: behavior is contagious, we model behavior for others, and we become what we do. Acting in kind ways toward others is positive behavior that we model for others. It is valuable to model this kind of behavior for children. (The Behaviorists say that behavior is learned). It is important to teach children about kindness, because children’s brains are developing, and experiences hardwire the brain.

"Each week at the beginning of class, my teacher would ask her students to please share a simple act of kindness. Examples (some are mine, some are others'):

1. “I held the door for someone.”
2. “I gave a friend who doesn’t have a car a ride to school today.”
3. “I cooked my mom dinner.”
4. “I helped my mom stretch her legs in ways she normally could not, to help relieve her pain.”
5. “I helped a stranger change their tire.”
6. “I was about to pull into a parking spot, but let another person, who was obviously in a rush, have the spot. They thanked me.”
7. “I e-mailed a classmate the homework assignment when they had missed class.”
8. “I helped a very drunk girl find the bus stop and gave her a token to get home.”
9. “I helped my little brother with his homework.”
10. “I call my grandmother regularly now, just to talk, when before I only called her if there was a specific reason.”
11. “I helped someone fix their printer, even though I was initially unsure how to.”

Try some. Move your body and brain. Make health contagious. Send in your own successes doing small things that pass happier ways on. Click the label 'spirit' for Fitness Fixer ideas.

Lily's Posts:

Lily demonstrates a better lunge stretch and gives a no-cook delicious recipe: - Lunges and Beans

Finds us better containers than plastic: - Non-Plastic Non-Aluminum Sports and Fitness Food Carriers

Labels: children, fast fitness, mind, spirit

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