Kindness is therapy in itself…

Eddie Gilmore, chief executive of Irish Chaplaincy, has posted a new blog that’s especially relevant in this January cold snap. It shows how much acts of kindness can help and the degree to which they benefit the one helping as well as the recipient.

‘A new study has discovered something that has been known to the Chinese for centuries. Research at Ohio State University focused on 122 adults with moderate or severe depression and the results have, by chance, been published in The Journal of Positive Psychology in January, a time when many of us will be prone to feeling the post-Christmas and the mid-winter blues. Indeed, 16 January has been designated as Blue Monday. It’s the Monday of the third week in January and was declared in 2005 by a travel company, Sky Travel, to be the day in the year when people are most likely to be depressed. The Samaritans have marked the day by giving out teabags at train stations, the message being that it’s good to talk. We know in our work at the Irish Chaplaincy that it’s also that little act of kindness that can be transformative; and in the case of people in prison, who might be in particular despair, an act of kindness can be life-saving…’

Eddie Gilmore, Irish Chaplaincy

Network members who attended our online Anna Chaplaincy annual Gathering last autumn will remember Eddie sharing worship with us, and bringing along his guitar.

Our colleagues at Irish Chaplaincy remind us that it will soon be St Brigid’s Day. Eddie says, ‘As we come once again to the feast of St Brigid, the patron saint of the Irish Chaplaincy (and whose day will be marked for the first time this year in Ireland by a public holiday!), I’m excited to announce the following event.’

Celebrating St Brigid in word and song

Hosted by the Irish Chaplaincy at St Bride’s Church, Fleet Street, London, EC4Y 8AU

1 February – 11.55 am to 12.40 pm

Admission free. All welcome.

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