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The Kindness Experiment

The Kindness Experiment: It All Starts in Ali's Corner Shop

It All Starts in Ali's Corner Shop

BBC Radio 4 - The Kindness Experiment, It All Starts in Ali's Corner Shop

What happens when we're kind, and when we receive kindness - especially from strangers?

What stops us from being kind sometimes and how does it feel to do something nice for a stranger, expecting nothing in return?

A series of people in Bristol embark on a journey of doing something kind for someone else. Along the way they reflect on what it is to be kind and to receive kindness. What stops us from being kind sometimes and how does it feel to do something nice for a stranger, expecting nothing in return?
In the first episode we meet a random group of people in the local shop in St Werburghs in Bristol run by Ali.  Everyone in the neighbourhood knows him and talks about how kind he is to all of his customers.  Setting up shop in his store Ella Scotland Waters meets some of those customers and engages them in conversations that ask them to reflect on kindness and what it means to them.  Some of them will take up the challenge across the week to do something kind for someone they don't know and don't neccessarily even like and to see what effect that has both on the recipient but also on themselves and their wellbeing.

With the participation and advice of Professor Bruce Hood from the School of Psychological Science, University of Bristol. His Happiness courses have helped his students during lockdown. Can he help us all to be kinder?


Presenter: Ella Scotland Waters

Producer for BBC Audio Bristol: Maggie Ayre

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