Research Question #2
How do kindness, empathy, and compassion heal and prevent illness, and how can identity formation occur around these qualities?
Kindness in physicians, nurses, social workers, and teachers creates a healing culture for those experiencing illness. Patients want to be treated as people. Simple expressions of kindness in everyday life remind people of their worth and dignity, no matter how badly they might have been humiliated and de-dignified. Loving kindness can heal mental illness and solve many social problems. It is love that leads to justice.
“Love heals. Heals and liberates. I use the word love, not meaning sentimentality, but a condition so strong that it may be that which holds the stars in their heavenly positions and that which causes the blood to flow orderly in our veins.”
—Maya Angelou
“Love cures people – both the ones who give it and the ones who receive it.”
—Karl A. Menninger
“Medicine heals many wounds, but love alone heals all wounds.”
—Anonymous
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