Grit Diaries Podcast: Sarah De Jonge, founder of A Thousand Hearts, on kindness, grief, resilience, and the science of why being kind actually heals. From losing her mum at four to building a global kindness movement — this is a story about love, loss, and the small handmade gestures that ripple across the world.
Sarah De Jonge is a psychologist, counsellor, and the founder of A Thousand Hearts — a project that began in 2016 with one goal: hand-stitch a thousand pocket hearts and give them away for free. A decade later, those hearts have travelled across the world.
In this conversation with Mon and Mazz on Grit Diaries, Sarah unpacks the neuroscience of kindness — how acts of kindness work on the brain like an antidepressant — explores the difference between being nice and being truly kind, and shares the piece of advice from her father that changed how she lives: stop pushing the river.
This is a real conversation about grief, healing, self-compassion, and the quiet power of showing up for people.
🎙️ IN THIS CONVERSATION:
• Growing up in Northern Tasmania and losing her mum to anorexia at four
• The handmade gifts from Athens that connected her to her mum across grief and distance
• Starting A Thousand Hearts in 2016 — 1,000 pocket hearts, given away for free
• How the project became a global kindness movement
• The neuroscience of kindness — serotonin, dopamine, oxytocin, and the contagion effect
• Why “nice” is transactional but “kind” comes from your core values
• Self-compassion as a daily practice (not a buzzword)
• Her father’s wisdom: *stop pushing the river — just let it flow*
• Learning to say no, and only saying yes when it aligns with your wellbeing
🕒 CHAPTERS:
00:00 Introduction
02:18 Meet Sarah De Jonge
03:26 Growing up in Tasmania
05:56 How A Thousand Hearts began
07:36 A global kindness movement
11:21 The science of kindness
20:54 Self-compassion as practice
27:56 Stop pushing the river
32:13 Kindness versus niceness
36:14 Closing reflections
🌐 CONNECT WITH SARAH:
A Thousand Hearts: https://www.athousandhearts.com.au
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🎙️ ABOUT KINTSUGI HEROES
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Kintsugi Heroes is a not-for-profit Australian podcast network sharing real stories of resilience and transformation.
Named after the Japanese art of repairing broken pottery with gold — the philosophy that what’s been broken can become more beautiful for the mending — every episode honours the cracks, the rebuild, and the human underneath.
We believe every story matters. Every scar has something to say. And every person quietly finding their way through deserves to be heard.
🏷️ Topics we cover: resilience, trauma recovery, mental health, transformation, lived experience, chronic illness, neurodiversity, grief, identity, community, caregiving, refugee stories, animal therapy, ageing, older Australians, wellbeing, invisible illness, inclusion, personal growth, hope, rebuilding, human connection, kindness, Australian stories
📺 Series on this channel:
– Kintsugi Heroes — real stories of resilience | hosted by John Milham
– Animals & Us | hosted by Natalie Stockdale
– Grit Diaries: from Grit to Grace | hosted by Simone Allan & Maryan Bova
– From There to Here | hosted by Emma Bellamy-Dodd
– Golden Threads — stories of disability & resilience | hosted by Dan Dougherty
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