Book Review: The Kindness Journal: Little Activities to Make a Big Difference by 52 Lives founder Jaime Thurston @jaimethurston @52lives @omarabooks @lovebooksgroup #lovebookstours

I’m sharing my review for The Kindness Journal by Jaime Thurston today as part of the Love Books Tours blog tour. Massive thanks to Kelly for the invite and the gifted copy of the journal.

About the book

Kindness is something we all have to give and we all need, regardless of status or background. The current global effort to protect our communities’ most vulnerable shows how kindness spreads and that when we are kind to others it lifts our spirits. In The Kindness Journal, Jaime Thurston, founder of the charity 52 Lives, motivates and inspires readers to practice kindness as much for their own wellbeing as for the wellbeing of others.

The book will help readers cultivate kindness habits, with simple exercises that make a positive impact on others and themselves, and provide a place for readers to acknowledge and remind themselves how being kind to others made them feel. Through prompts suggesting simple actions, inspirational quotes and scientifically supported facts, readers will understand the positive effect kindness has on our physical and mental health.

My thoughts

I don’t know about you but when someone is kind to me I get a little warm feeling inside, it makes me happy and it’s just the same when I’m kind to someone else, it gives me a little buzz especially when you see it put a smile on their face.

This journal is all about kindness and although many of us know how to be kind to others the thing that jumped out at me was self-kindness and how you speak to yourself. I had to sit and think for a while and I came to the conclusion, I’m not very kind to myself and it’s something I’m actively working on changing.

Throughout the book there are little activities and some absolutely gorgeous illustrations. It’s a lovely colourful little book and one that you can pick up and put down over and over again.

I’ve really enjoyed looking through this journal and I’ll definitely take a lot away from it, I think I’m quite a kind person but there’s always room for improvement. I also think this would make such a lovely gift as well. I’ll definitely be keeping this on my bedside table, after a hard day it will be nice to pick up and remind myself about kindness in myself and others.

About the author

Jaime is the founder of 52 Lives – a charity and global movement that aims to change a life every week and spread kindness.

What started as a simple Facebook page encouraging her friends and family to help people changed overnight after Jaime was featured on ITV’s Surprise Surprise. Soon after, 52 Lives became a registered charity and now has almost 100,000 supporters around the world.

Jaime is originally from Australia. She began her career as a journalist, before moving to the UK, where she worked for a Member of the European Parliament, a wildlife charity and an organisation that supported families of prisoners. She was a Member of the Independent Monitoring Board for a local prison, and a Trustee of a Richmond-based charity that helped isolated groups of people. She now runs 52 Lives and recently launched a School Kindness Project, aiming to empower children to make a difference in the world through kindness.

Jaime was named Clarins Most Dynamisante Woman of the Year in 2016. She also received a Points of Light Award from former UK Prime Minister David Cameron and a Richmond Community Award for her work.

Jaime lives in Berkshire with her partner Greig and her three children, Abbey, Max and Joseph.