In preaching love, Rogers wasn’t just attending to the moral character of his youthful audience. He believed that he was also promoting their health. As he said in 1979, “My whole approach in broadcasting has always been, ‘You are an important person just the way you are. You can make healthy decisions.’ Maybe I’m going on too long, but I just feel that anything that allows a person to be more active in the control of his or her life, in a healthy way, is important.”

Since Rogers’ death, evidence has mounted that he was on to something – namely, that love and kindness truly are healthful, and that people who express them regularly really do lead healthier lives. Simply put, people who are generous and volunteer their time for the benefit of others seem to be happier than those who don’t, and happy people tend to have fewer health complaints and live longer than those who are unhappy.

Love gave rise to a calling

Born in Pennsylvania in 1928, as a young minister Rogers regretted the messages television was conveying to children in the 1960s. He said, “I went into television because I hated it so, and I thought there’s some way of using this fabulous instrument to nurture those who would watch and listen.” “Mr. Rogers’ Neighborhood” debuted nationally in 1968 and won its creator and host many accolades, including a Presidential Medal of Freedom, two Peabody Awards, and over 40 honorary degrees.

Rogers believed that the need to love and be loved was universal, and he sought to cultivate these capacities through every program, saying in a 2004 documentary hosted by actor Michael Keaton, one of his former stagehands, “You know, I think everybody longs to be loved, and longs to know that he or she is lovable. And consequently, the greatest thing we can do is to help somebody know they’re loved and capable of loving.”

Love and health

As it turns out, there are many ways in which love and kindness are good for health. For one thing, they tend to reduce factors that undermine it. Doing something nice for someone causes the release of endorphins, which help to relieve pain. People who make kindness a habit have lower levels of stress hormones such as cortisol. Intentionally helping others can even lower levels of anxiety in individuals who normally avoid social situations.

Carrying out acts of kindness, or even merely witnessing them, also increases levels of oxytocin, a hormone with health benefits as diverse as lowering blood pressure, promoting good sleep and reducing cravings for drugs such as cocaine and alcohol. That oxytocin should have so many health benefits is not so surprising when we recall its central role in stimulating uterine contractions during birth, the letdown of milk during lactation, the pleasure associated with orgasm and pair bonding.

Acts of generosity and compassion also appear to be good for mood. A 2010 study showed that while people with money tend to be somewhat happier than those without it, people who spend money on others report even greater levels of happiness, an effect that can be detected even in toddlers. When people give money to others, areas of the brain associated with pleasure are activated, and this response is greater when the transfer is voluntary rather than mandatory.

Such happiness can have big benefits in longevity. For example, a reviewof 160 published studies concluded that there is compelling evidence that life satisfaction and optimism are associated with better health and enhanced longevity. Another study of older people showed that, even after correcting for other factors such as age, disease and health habits, those who rated their happiness highest were 35 percent less likely to die in five years than those who were least content.

What would Mister Rogers say?

Of course, Rogers would remind us that there are reasons to be committed to love and kindness that extend far beyond their health benefits. Rogers was, after all, not a physician but a minister, and ultimately he was ministering to an aspect of human wholeness that cannot be analyzed by blood tests or visualized with CT scans. In a commencement addressat Dartmouth College in 2002, he focused less on the body than what he might have called the spirit:

“When I say it’s you I like, I’m talking about that part of you that knows that life is far more than anything you can ever see or hear or touch. That deep part of you that allows you to stand for those things without which humankind cannot survive. Love that conquers hate, peace that rises triumphant over war, and justice that proves more powerful than greed.”

When Rogers encouraged children to be kinder and more loving, he believed that he was not only promoting public health but also nurturing the most important part of a human being – the part that exhibits a divine spark. As Rogers indicated in another commencement speechthe year before at Middlebury College, “I believe that appreciation is a holy thing, that when we look for what’s best in the person we happen to be with at the moment, we’re doing what God does; so in appreciating our neighbor, we’re participating in something truly sacred.”

In expressing such deeply religious sentiments, Rogers was not trying to undermine a concern with bodily health. In fact, he regularly encouraged his viewers to adopt healthy life habits, and Rogers himself was a committed vegetarian and lifelong swimmer who maintained a low body weight his entire life. Yet he also believed that health alone does not a full life make, and he regarded the soundness of the body as but part of the wellness of whole persons and communities, which may explain why he was able to face his own mortality with such equanimity.

Just a few months before he died, Rogers recorded a message for the many adult fans who had grown up watching “Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood.” In it, he practiced what he preached, saying:

“I would like to tell you what I often told you when you were much younger. I like you just the way you are. And what’s more, I’m so grateful to you for helping the children in your life to know that you’ll do everything you can to keep them safe. And to help them express their feelings in ways that will bring healing in many different neighborhoods. It’s such a good feeling to know that we’re lifelong friends.”

This article originally appeared on Mashable.

The post Why Mister Rogers’ Message of Love and Kindness Is Good for Your Health appeared first on Positive Celebrity News, Good Celebrity Gossip, Positive Entertainment News | Good Celebrity.

Growing up an orphan in Kenya, there didn’t seem to be much of a future for Mully. Facing insurmountable odds, he contemplated suicide at the age of 16. Thanks in large part to faith, Mully transformed his life and became a multi-millionaire business owner.

However, money didn’t fill Mully’s soul. It wasn’t until he decided to give back and begin his new life as a humanitarian that he became truly wealthy. In 1989 he started

In 1989 he started Mully Children’s Family (MCF), a Kenyan-based charitable organization that, since it’s inception, has rescued 12,000 children from horrible situations.

The new documentary Mully tells the extraordinary story of the man known as “Daddy Mully” who has touched countless lives throughout the 27-year existence of MCF.

An exceptionally talented team helped bring Mully to life including writer/director Scott Haze, producer Lukas Behnken, Golden Globe-nominated composer Benjamin Wallfisch (Hidden Figures), and Oscar-winning documentarian James Moll (The Last Days) who serves as one of the executive producers on the film.

Also filling an EP role is Paul Blavin. Under his production banner, FOR GOOD., Blavin has executive produced documentaries such as the heartwarming Harry & Snowman and the Oscar-nominated The Hunting Ground, which delved into rape on college campuses.

Blavin recently spoke with Good Celebrity about how Mully came to be.

What is Mully Children’s Family?

“It’s not your typical charitable organization that spends their time publicizing [and] fundraising – which is necessary – but that’s not what Mully Children’s Family has done. They’ve focused on rescuing children,” Blavin said.

“It’s pretty rare that you find films made about organization’s like this.”

Indeed, MCF is in a class all it’s own. Rescuing abandoned African children, two-thirds of which are women (some of whom are pregnant and have been through prostitution and sex trafficking rings), Mully and his wife, Esther, bring them into their home and literally welcome them as family.

“It’s not an orphanage. You cannot adopt these children,” Blavin said.  

“They stay at Mully Children’s Family. They’re part of a family. They’re provided with food, shelter, education. Their school, in national examinations, ranked number one out of 935 secondary schools in their county.”

Currently, 2,700 children are under the care of MCF. Thousands of previous family members have gone on to attend universities.

“It’s a life transformation opportunity for kids that were abandoned,” he said

Funding

Improving the lives of thousands upon thousands of children carries a heavy price tag, but the Mully family, in their own unique way, fund the organization.

MCF is a team project (six of Charles’ eight children are involved) and over time the members transformed the family compound. By planting over 1.5 million trees on the MCF property, they created an especially wet microclimate.

“They have captured that water and used it for agriculture to grow crops that they consume but also export [to Europe],” Blavin said.

In addition to growing certified organic vegetables, MCF also has fish farming, a dairy operation, and poultry.

“They’ve done a tremendous amount to make themselves sustainable without donations,” said Blavin who added that MCF is 30-50% self-sustainable through its agricultural operations, a percentage that he believes will increase upon the release of the documentary.

“With the film that’s coming out and the videos and the music that we’re putting together that will all be part of a campaign to shine a bright light on the incredible work that he’s doing, we believe that we’ll be able to raise the necessary money to invest in the infrastructure at Mully Children’s Family so that they can become 100% self-sustainable,” he said.

“We’re going to expand the greenhouse operations, we’re going to expand the dairy and poultry operations so that this family will never have to take a donation again.”

FOR GOOD. A Good Fit

It was natural that a production company like FOR GOOD. would get involved in this project.

“We are focused 100% on impact and our name makes that clear,” Blavin said of FOR GOOD. “It’s not for money, it’s not for fame, it’s not for ego. It’s to make an impact.”

Going beyond the work of a traditional executive producer and company, Blavin wants FOR GOOD. to accomplish several objectives with this film, including growing the MCF family and funding, and helping the children become self-sustainable members of society.

“We’ll be providing the opportunity to sponsor these children so that a person, a family in the developed world can become part of the world’s largest family by sponsoring one of their children,” he said.

“We want to expand the world’s largest family to all the continents and to as many people as possible,” he added.

Mully: More Than Just a Film

Before any production could begin, the filmmakers sought out Dr. Charles Mully for approval in creating the film (which was inspired by Mully’s book, Father to the Fatherless).

“They’re very methodical. Charles Mully’s very thoughtful. They thought through it and were very discerning but ultimately, thank God, they decided this was something they wanted to do,” Blavin said.

Director Scott Haze, in particular, was inspired by the work being done at MCF.

“It was definitely a passion project for Scott,” he said. “He just immersed himself for close to two years in this project.”

More than 300 hours of footage remains on the cutting room floor, but Blavin said it won’t be there for long. Utilizing the popularity of short-form video consumption on social media, the Mully crew is partnering with Facebook and using its “social good” tool to reach a wider audience.

“We’ll be putting out, through social media, lots of videos that help spread the word and tell the story in addition to the 81-minute film,” he said.

Not only that, but four-time Grammy winner Rodney Jerkins wrote an original song for the film (the singers of which Blavin can’t yet disclose) and many high profile celebrities, Blavin promises, will be joining in promoting the film and bringing awareness to Dr. Charles Mully and the Mully Children’s Family.

“It will inspire people to look at their lives and realize that, if a man whose abandoned at the age of six and has an eighth grade education can go into the world and save the lives of over 12,000 kids and do that so faithfully, that we all can do more,” Blavin said of the film.

“We know we’ll inspire thousands if not millions to take action of their own.” 

Mully opens in theaters in the Summer of 2017!

The post “Mully” Tells the Unbelievably Amazing Story of the World’s Largest Family appeared first on Positive Celebrity News, Good Celebrity Gossip, Positive Entertainment News | Good Celebrity.