The Conflict Resolution Alliance (CRA) and four partnering organizations are asking the Hawaiʻi community to take a pledge of kindness—that is to perform five random acts of kindness each
day for one month starting Oct. 15. Pledgers also commit to recognizing the kindness of others by posting videos or photos on social media that capture kind gestures happening around the community.

The idea is to start a buzz about human goodness on social media, at the dinner table, or at the water cooler (at a safe distance of course) and to shift the collective focus away from the stories of disaster,
destruction, and divisiveness we hear about in the news every day.

There is science behind the challenge that shows how impactful one act of kindness can be.

What separates healthy and happy relationships from miserable ones is a balance of positive to negative interactions. Think of it as a simple formula for building healthy relationships: It takes five positive
interactions to make up for every one bad encounter you have with someone, a 5:1 ratio. Social psychologists call it the Golden Ratio. Even small simple kind gestures like a smile, a “thumbs-up” or holding a door open for someone can be banked for that one time your lesser angels take over.

Beyond maintaining relationships, researchers from the University of Portland show that when we witness profound kindness our autonomic nervous system triggers an impulse to act altruistically toward others. This emotional state, called moral elevation, precipitates the urge to pay a kind act forward.

Everyone is encouraged to participate in the 5:1 Kindness Challenge. By signing the pledge, participants also commit to spreading the word and getting at least one more person to pledge. The 5:1 Kindness Challenge Pledge forms can be downloaded at CRAHawaii.org

Participants are asked to post pledges on social media to show their commitment, and to share and post videos or photos of acts of kindness they see around them at #KindnessMatters2020 and tag ConflictResolution Alliance (@CRAHawaii).

You are being challenged by: Conflict Resolution Alliance, The Center for Alternative Dispute Resolution; The Hawai‘i State Bar Association-ADR Section; The Matsunaga Institute for Peace and Conflict Resolution; and The Mediation Center of the Pacific who collectively offer and promote education in conflict resolution practices in pursuit of peaceful and creative resolutions to disputes.

Conflict Resolution Day is a National Awareness Day sponsored annually by the Association for Conflict Resolution with the purpose to promote peacemaking through negotiation, mediation, facilitation, and arbitration.