Follow along with the transcript below for episode: Join the Kindness Campaign With Dr. Michelle Robin and Bayleigh Petty
[INTRODUCTION]
[0:00:02] PF: Thank you for joining us for episode 489 of Live Happy Now. World Kindness Day is just about a month away, but today’s guests are already celebrating it. I’m your host, Paula Felps. This week I’m talking with Dr. Michelle Robin and Bayleigh Petty of Small Changes Big Shifts, an organization dedicated to the whole-body approach to wellness and well-being. They’re launching their fifth annual Kindness Campaign, and this week they’re here to talk about their mission of kindness, what it can do for you, and how you can participate in the Kindness Campaign. Let’s have a listen.
[INTERVIEW]
[0:00:39] PF: Michelle and Bayleigh, thank you for coming on Live Happy Now.
[0:00:42] MR: Hey, Paula. It’s always great to see your smiling face, and I know there are listeners can’t necessarily see that, but I want them to feel the radiation from your vibration of what you’re putting out in the universe.
[0:00:52] PF: Thank you so much. Bayleigh, this is your first flight on Live Happy Now. Welcome to the show.
[0:00:59] BP: Yes. Thank you for having me. I’m super excited to be here, and it’s actually my first interview on another podcast. This is a lot of fun for me to step out of our own show and what a perfect show to make my debut on. So, happy to be here.
[0:01:14] PF: This is going to be a lot of fun. We’re here today to talk about the Kindness Campaign, but before we get to that, I feel like we need to talk about the foundation, which is a small change is big shifts. So, can you tell us, explain to our listeners what that is.
[0:01:30] BP: Yeah. Small Changes Big Shifts is our nonprofit. We are focusing on educating people about whole person health. Really what that means is how do you take care of yourself from this whole person perspective, so not just your physical health, but your mental health, your emotional health, your energetical health, your mental health, all of those things play into your overall well-being. So, at Small Changes Big Shifts, we teach you small actions that you can start to implement into your daily routine that will ultimately lead to those big shifts in your wellness and your well-being. So, our ultimate goal is if how to take care of yourself, you’re going to take care of the generations to come. So, we want to teach you how to fill your cup so that way you can fill others from your overflow and we can stop this constant cycle of pouring from an empty cup.
[0:02:17] PF: I love that. I love that. Has that mission grown or changed over the years or has it remained pretty steady on course?
[0:02:25] MR: Paula, it has been pretty steady on course through my own journey of having people pour into me. It’s really my give back and how do we help these future generations, like Bayleigh said, navigate this complex thing of well-being, yet they’re so simple, especially through these little small changes that will lead to big shifts. It’s been pretty much planted in my soul for a long time and I’d say that we are not wavering. We may be wavering a little bit of some of the tools that we had, but we’re definitely not wavering on our commitment to our young generation.
[0:02:58] PF: Have you seen changes in recent years, because especially post-pandemic. There’s been a lot of talk about how it has affected everyone with trauma and anxiety. Things like that. Have you seen a change in the people that you’re dealing with?
[0:03:13] BP: Yeah, absolutely. I think the biggest change that we’re seeing from the pandemic is my generation. We’re talking the people that were in college or fresh into the real adult world during the pandemic when you’re trying to figure out how to step out on your own, how to pay your bills, how to have a normal daily routine, but nothing’s normal. You can’t go anywhere. You can’t connect with anybody. All you’re doing is you’re stuck at home and trying to figure out, okay, who am I now?
So, well-being became the hot topic during COVID and during the pandemic. So, stepping into our daily routines and trying to figure out what new health habits am I going to be implementing while well-being is a very hot topic? There’s a lot of misinformation out there and there’s a lot to navigate through. So, that’s the beauty of what we’re doing at our nonprofit. If you feel overwhelmed or if you don’t know where to start, you can find – I always tell people, well, I’m not going to tell you anything brand new, right?
The stuff that we are going to be teaching you is stuff that you can find out in the world. But what we do and the framework and the approach that we take is what leads to those lasting changes. So, we’re going to guide you and we’re going to meet you with where you’re at. So, with people stepping out and making well-being at the forefront, following this framework will lead to those lasting results.
[0:04:34] PF: Do you see that interest in it continuing, because sometimes when you’re in the heat of stress and in the throes of the pandemic, you give it all your attention, but then we’re moving away or a little post-pandemic. People are acclimated. Sometimes we forget how important those practices are. Is that something that you’ve seen?
[0:04:53] BP: I think that the pandemic brought an awareness to people of how they should feel. Now, I think it’s going to last, because now you’ve lived this life of knowing how you should feel on the inside or how life could be. Then you’re going to want to stick with that. You’re going to want to know how to feel healthy and how to feel well all around.
[0:05:13] MR: To tag into onto that, Bayleigh, that’s very wise for what people are going to create some lasting change, but Paula to answer your question from a global society. I believe that this whole iceberg of well-being, whether it is heart disease, obesity, mental health, diabetes, this Danlos syndrome, all these things that are popping up. I believe this epidemic we’re having is going to continue to explode.
Good news, bad news, as Bayleigh said. It’s a great time to be in well-being, but it’s also a scary time to be in well-being, because if you talk to 10 people, they all want to talk about well-being. If it’s not their own well-being, they want to talk about their kids, or their grandkids, or their city, even others, well-being. It’s here to stay. I’ve been in the space for close to 40 years. I’ve never seen anything quite like this where people are so sick at such a young age. Just like taking our scholarship kids as we know those stats.
You’ve got 18 to 30-year-olds, eight out of eight have anxiety, seven out of eight have a vitamin and D deficiency, seven out of eight have a food allergy and a handful have some autoimmune and some diabetes. These problems, we’re just seeing the tip at a whole another level. Without a doubt, Paula, I believe it’s here to stay. I think COVID brought out a big issue that we were having and compounded it. I think it’ll be something that you and I and probably Bayleigh will be dealing with the rest of our lives.
[0:06:42] PF: I think it’s so important that you group these things together. So often people separate these autoimmune diseases. They separate what is going on with us physically from what’s going on with our mental well-being. I love the fact that you insist on marrying those two. For you, there is just no separation. Can you explain why that is?
[0:07:06] MR: I sure can. That’s a phenomenal question. Thank you for recognizing that. You know Paula, if somebody comes to see me, you know, I’m a chiropractor by training and have some extra specialties and acupuncture and well-being and some sports medicine, but when somebody comes to see me, I can’t help but see from a whole perspective. So, if you come in with headaches, I immediately start thinking about your nervous system.
I start thinking about your foods and what could be potentially affecting your nervous system to put it on overload or what’s going on with you from an energetical standpoint. Is that the way you’re sleeping? Is that you’re sleeping with your phone? Is that you’re constantly attached to a headset? Could it be that you just haven’t dealt with some of the emotional well-being that’s keeping you from being your magnificent self?
I just can’t help myself, but looking at it from a whole person is actually probably drives a lot of people crazy, because I just wanted to get my neck adjusted. Well, but yeah, it’s just getting the wrong way. It’s like, it’s just your neck, but it’s not going to hold if I don’t teach you how to sleep the right way. If I don’t teach you how to take care of the multifidus muscles that help keep your neck healthy, or if I’m not helping you get rid of some inflammation in your body. It’s almost a – I just can’t help myself. It’s a, like I said, it’s a blessing and it’s a curse.
[0:08:17] PF: Out of this interest in all person well-being came your Kindness Campaign. This is a fifth year. Can you tell us, first of all, what the Kindness Campaign is, and how it evolved out of this mindset that you have?
[0:08:31] MR: Well, it came out because of COVID. Actually, it came out before COVID in 2019. One of my friends and who’s a big mental health advocate came to me and said, “You have all these 21-day programs around posture, and sleep, and free your space.” Every program I do is always around the quadrants. So, when I think about sleep, I do look at all the areas. So, she said, “You really need to do kindness.” She was kind of in my face about it, Paula. She just would not leave me alone.
It was the fall of 2019 and that dates really important to the story. Finally, you just say, “Okay, Ann. I hear you. We’ll do it.” So, my team put together a 21-day Kindness Program. We launched it as a free campaign, as our give back campaign. Then March of 2020, the world shut down. Some of my corporate clients say, we were talking about rest, reflect, rejuvenate. We were talking about building rhythm, and resilience, and different programs that we were doing. Then it came to be July of 2020. We were still in this thing called the pandemic.
They’re like, “Okay, Michelle. What do we do now?” I’ve got this mental health crisis at work. I’ve still got people at home. We’re not connected. We’ve got this loneliness epidemic popping up. I said, “Well, you know, I’ve got this Kindness Campaign. I’m snickering inside to myself, because you know the backstory.” They said, “Great, we’ll take the Kindness Campaign. We’ll help underwrite it, but we want 31-days, not 21-days.”
Our Kindness Campaign was launches before and always ends on world kindness day related to Lady Gaga, Born This Way, which is on November 13th. So, I said, “Okay, well, let’s just back up 31-days and you get to October 14th.” They said, “Great, let’s do it.” You might remember there is something going on in 2020. This thing called the election.
[0:10:18] PF: I seem to remember that.
[0:10:20] MR: You seem to remember that. Yeah. Yeah.
[0:10:21] PF: Yeah.
[0:10:21] MR: We’re having a repeat right now in 2024 year. So, here we are on our fifth year, spending this message of kindness. The Kindness Campaign really is, you get this. I know you live this and this is why it’s such a great partnership with Live Happy Now is that kindness matters every moment and every day. What we’re doing is, we’re taking and we’re shining the light on it for the next 31-days that people can collectively do it, because we know that the more people that are doing good stuff at the same time, it creates a ripple effect in and creates – remember the seventh monkey effect where people were eating bananas and that the monkeys written bananas in Africa. Next thing we know, the monkeys are eating bananas in LA at the zoo, because – San Diego Zoo, because they’re all having that ripple effect.
The Kindness Campaign is designed to help people create this ripple of kindness and change the vibration. We know, go back to Quadris well-being, we know that vibrational medicine is real. So, that’s what we’re doing and it started, because Anne poked the bear and said, “Hey, you need to do this.” Then all of a sudden – she knew, she knew what I – her spirit knew what my spirit didn’t know, so went in to a pandemic in 2020.
[0:11:35] PF: Now, out of all the practices for well-being, because there’s gratitude, there’s mindfulness, there’s other things. Why is kindness such a great fit for you and why is that the focus of this campaign?
[0:11:48] BP: One thing that I love about kindness is it’s very simple. So, it fits right into our framework of it does not have to be this huge extravagant lifestyle change, but if you put kindness at the forefront, and I believe that if whatever you put at the front of your mind is what you’re going to attract. So, with the kindness campaign, the goal is we’re going to put kindness at the forefront. If we can put it at the forefront of a million people’s minds, what an effect that could have. So, we know that it creates, like Dr. Robin shared that ripple effect and it starts that positive feedback. It reduces stress within you and the one receiving the act.
It’s going to also help create a sense of belonging. Right now, as we’ve been talking throughout this show, we’re all striving and we’re all reaching for that connected feeling and trying to find the common ground and the kindness in today’s world. So, it’s perfect timing for this fifth year to roll around. Our intention is to put kindness at the forefront to start to see that ripple effect take place.
[0:12:49] PF: We’ve been doing a series on election stress. We’ve dealt with many different topics from learning to listen to other people, to keeping your relationships intact, to just handling the stress of it. How can kindness help with that aspect of people’s lives? Because it is inevitable. I’ve not had a conversation. I don’t think in the last two months that hasn’t involved some reference to the election.
[0:13:14] MR: I try to think about these words for myself, open mind, open eyes, open heart, open hands. I believe that when you are coming from a place of kindness, you have an openness about you, so people are willing to have the hard conversation with you and possibly hear your point of you and know that you’re going to hear their point of view. I think in today’s times, it’s also kindness is really try not to take things personal. That’s really hard. It is personal. It is professional. But I would say for me, it’s open heart, open mind, open eyes, open hands. That is what I do. Bayleigh, what would you add?
[0:13:55] BP: For me, I think it’s putting kindness as a middle ground and almost that connecting piece to remind us that we are all alike in one way or another. In the heat of the moment, in the heat of society, it’s very easy to have your vision blurred of you versus me. When it’s really not you versus me. It’s we are a collective. So, with kindness and the way that our campaign is designed for some of the acts to be being kind to yourself, and then also to be kind to others.
It’s a reminder that we’re all the same and that we’re all – we are holding the space with the kindness campaign to bring everybody to a common ground of that kindness matters. It’s important. I see you. I love you. I hear you for who you are as a person and trying to quiet the outside noise of what’s going on in our world right now.
[0:14:44] PF: I love that. Can you walk us through what to expect from the kindness campaign? We’ve alluded to it, but when someone signs up for this, what happens?
[0:14:53] BP: Yeah. If you sign up today, our Kindness Campaign launches on October 14th and that will be when you receive the first email. You’ll get day one and you’ll receive a kindness quote, a simple act that you can either do for yourself, others, maybe your pet, a friend, a coworker. It will give you reasons why it’s important and the effect that it may have on you or the person receiving the act. Then a few simple inspirations of how to go and perform that act.
We know with these 31-days, our goal is to just start to plant the seeds. Not every single one of them is going to resonate with you, but there is going to be one that you need and it’s going to come on the day that you need it. That’s one thing I know for sure about our Kindness Campaign. So, signing up for those emails and as Michelle shared earlier, keeping that open mind, open eyes, open heart. What is that kindness email telling you today? How does it speak to you and how do you go out and do that act to spread a little bit of joy into the world?
[0:15:52] PF: Now, what happens if they don’t sign up in time? What if they hear this and that? They wait a few days and then it’s like, “Oh, wait. I missed the start.”
[0:16:00] BP: No problem. You will still start on day one. If you sign up between or before October 14th, you’ll get day one on October 14th. Then if you sign up on November 12th, then that’s when you’re going to get day one. So, you will still be able to get every kindness act in order. But if you’re following our social media, Small Changes Big Shifts, you will see that we are going to go on the cadence of that October 14th date ending on November 13th, which is World Kindness Day. Anytime you can sign up and you will get all of the information.
[0:16:29] MR: Well, even if you start May, if you’re listening to this in May of 2025, you can sign up and still do the campaign. You’ll start on the next day that you sign up on day one. It’s a – I’m saying it’s a free campaign. You can do it anytime. We have the intention of touching a million hearts with this campaign that we’re collectively doing at the same time. October 14th through November 13th of 2024 to help shift some of the, I’d like to use the word nonsense is happening in the world.
[0:16:55] PF: That’s a great word for it. Well, so World Kindness Day is when it ends on November 13th. That’s kind of like your Christmas, I guess. Big day for you. What do you do at the culmination of this? What do you do for World Kindness Day?
[0:17:09] BP: This year for our fifth annual we’re doing something a little different. We’re actually raising money to create and distribute kids’ kindness decks. We have three mini decks, an elementary school, a middle school and a high school deck that has seven different kindness acts that kids can, again, do to themselves or do to others. So, with the money raised, we’re raising money from now until November 13th.
On November 13th, we will announce how many decks will be delivering out into the community. We also have a kindness curriculum. We’ve got a weak worth of kindness content for teachers, or educators, or nonprofit leaders to work into their curriculum to help their students or help start to plant the seeds of kindness within kids. Then we’ll distribute the decks to kids throughout the Kansas City community starting on World Kindness Day.
[0:17:58] MR: Well, it can be any community. If somebody is in Nashville, or Dallas, Texas, or Chicago and they want to participate, we’re happy to share in their community as well.
[0:18:06] PF: I think that you ladies are donating a couple of decks so our listeners can sign up for a drawing to receive a kindness deck themselves.
[0:18:13] BP: This year for our fifth annual, we’re excited that we have all the content translated into Spanish. So, not only do we have the kids’ decks translated into Spanish, but also the email campaign. If you go to our website smallchangesbigshifts.com\kindness and you are Spanish speaking, you will see an option to have the website completely translated and sign up for the Spanish version of the emails.
Then two, with our kids decks, it’s going to help us get a broader reach. If teachers have students in their class who have parents that only speak Spanish, they now have a deck that they can bring home and do with their parents and have it be a household activity. So, we are excited to have both an English and a Spanish version in all of our content this year.
[0:18:56] PF: Oftentimes when we think about acts of kindness, we hear about the big grand gestures. Those are the ones that go viral. They get this huge response, but you specialize in the small acts of kindness. What are some of the suggestions on the acts of kindness that people will learn to do during the Kindness Campaign?
[0:19:13] MR: Well, it’s based on a couple of different areas. Self-love, self-care, maybe your community, possibly for pets. It could be that this one’s pretty common, maybe you’re driving through and you’re getting your coffee for the day at your local coffee shop, and you decide to buy the person behind a coffee, or their matcha tea, whatever you’re drinking today. That could be one example. Bayleigh, what’s one of your favorite examples?
[0:19:37] BP: One of my favorite examples is to tip more than you usually would. So, it’s something very simple. If you have the means to do it, there’s nothing like watching your waitress’s face when they see double the amount that they were expecting. I used to when I was in college. Waitressing was one of my favorite jobs. Honestly, if I could do it now, I would, because I love the connection and being able to talk with people. So, it’s amazing to see when you get to know your server or the person that’s helping you and then giving that little bit of extra cash to help them is always a great way that I like to do or one of the small acts that I like to implement during this time.
[0:20:16] MR: One of my favorite acts just in general is to text somebody a thoughtful message. You never know what people are going through. So, I to listen to my spirit and she will, she’s very bossy. I’m not sure. Paula, is your spirit pretty bossy?
[0:20:32] PF: We fight a lot.
[0:20:34] MR: Yeah. Yeah. Mine is very bossy and she just will have somebody just sitting on my shoulders like they’re tapping me. Hey, hey, hey. So, but to send them a thoughtful message. I just had a friend that just got a really fun job and she’s just kind and thoughtful. I saw it. Then I screenshot at first, then finally I just, I stopped screenshot. I just actually wrote a thoughtful text message and said, “Wow, basically how lucky are, they have you.” That’s one of my favorite ways, because you just don’t know what people are going through in this moment. If you listen to that little bossy self, she will tell you or he will guide you of who you need to be reaching out to, because we’re all connected.
[0:21:11] PF: That is so true. This is an incredible campaign. It’s very effective. Of course, it goes for 31 days, but your goal isn’t just to have people be kind for 31 days. It’s really about starting a practice. How can someone do that? How can they start making this a part of their daily lives?
[0:21:29] BP: Yeah. I think, you know, when you think about – and what we talk about at Small Change is when it comes to implementing a habit, it’s just about the consistency and it’s just about the consistency. So, with the Kindness Campaign, let that be your starting point. You just got 31 great ideas to be kind, so you don’t really have to think about it. It’s easy. It’s digestible. It’s right at your fingertips. My personal advice on this topic and Dr. Robin, I’d love to hear yours, but mine would be start being kind to yourself. It’s a lot easier to be kind to others when you’re kind to yourself.
If you take away one thing from our Kindness Campaign and that you start to implement into a daily habit, it’s, how can I be kind to myself? Ask yourself that question every day. At some point in the day, whether it’s first thing in the morning, at your lunch break, or before you go to bed. How can I be kind to myself? Because the more that you start to realize how powerful you are and how important it is to love yourself, so that way others can love you, kindness, it’ll become natural to you.
[0:22:27] PF: I am so glad you brought that up, because especially women, we tend to take care of everyone around us. We might be practicing kindness and looking for what can I do for someone else and we completely ignore the little things that we can do for ourselves. Thank you so much for bringing that up.
[0:22:45] MR: I’d like to add something to their, Paula. I think you hit on it is we are looking at ways to serve other people. That’s natural for especially, I think most people. However, your gift is different than my gift. I call it your medicine. So, one thing I learned especially when I went through a bike accident is I had to be a receiver and I’m not a very good receiver. In doing that receiving, you start judging yourself.
I’m not the one who goes to at the hospital and sits with my friend all day or I’m not able to drive them to their appointments or all the things I was not able to do, but I didn’t give myself credit for what I am able to do. I may not be able to take you to the doctor’s appointment or to pick you up from your surgery, but I can send you some bone broth that will help you heal. I can give you some advice on how to do that. I think it’s important as you go through these 31-day is to really see what is your medicine and then own it. Maybe that’s your gift of kindness that you do.
I have two major gifts. One is I’m good at sending bone broth to people that need it, especially when they’re going through a COVID, or the flu, or they had surgery. Then I’m also really good at listening to that bossy – I’m going to say bad ass inside my soul that knows when to reach out to people. I’m really good at that. See what you’re really good at and then embrace it.
[0:24:05] PF: That is so important. What I love about this campaign is as you said, you can start it at any time. Someone can go through and do 31 days and try doing it on their own. If they see they’re forgetting to do it, they can sign back up and get another 31 days going.
[0:24:21] BP: Yes, absolutely.
[0:24:22] MR: They can repeat as much as they want.
[0:24:24] PF: That’s terrific. We are going to tell them how they can sign up for it, how they can find you, how they can enter a drawing to win their own kindness deck. I appreciate you coming on the show and talking about it. This is such an important mission you have going. I just appreciate you sharing it with us.
[0:24:41] MR: Well, Paula, it’s so fun once again to be around the Live Happy Now family. We love what you’re doing. You know, happiness and kindness, they’re similar, yet different, but they definitely overlap. I like to say they create a waffle effect and a layer of protection around you that help you navigate this crazy life.
[0:24:59] PF: So well said.
[OUTRO]
[0:25:04] PF: That was Dr. Michelle Robin and Bayleigh Petty talking about how you can be part of their Fifth Annual Kindness Campaign. If you’d like to sign up for the campaign, learn more about it or follow them on social media, just visit us at livehappy.com and click on this podcast episode.
We hope you’ve enjoyed this episode of Live Happy Now. If you aren’t already receiving us every week, we invite you to subscribe wherever you get your podcasts. While you’re there, feel free to drop us a review and let us know what you think of the show. That is all we have time for today. We’ll meet you back here again next week for an all-new episode. Until then, this is Paula Felps reminding you to make every day a happy one.
