This week’s message centers around the importance AND power of Kindness.
What is Kindness? Well, google dictionary says that kindness is “the quality of being friendly, generous, and considerate.” Simple right? We’d all like to think so, yet very few of us can say we consciously practice kindness on a daily basis.
Kindness is an important connection we have with others. It inspires joy, faith, and for many, carries the intangible qualities of compassion and love. Think about this: No matter what religion you might or might not be, most all of them are centered around the act/quality of kindness (“do unto others” sound familiar?): Let me exit out the door first before you enter in; Let me merge into your lane onto the freeway instead of speeding up and making it more dangerous for the both of us.
The kicker here is that people are less happy or healthy if they or those around them are guided by self-centeredness or selfishness. The problem is that sometimes, we can get caught up with “self”, never quite being able to fully let go. But the good news is these experiences of kindness and compassion help open us up.
Now I know what some may be thinking: “What’s in it for me?” I am glad you asked! Simple acts of kindness have the power to drastically increase happiness and improve the quality of your life over the long-term. We each have the power to help build up hope, love, kindness and compassion in others. The flipside to this is that small acts of selfishness can also have a large impact. While we have the power to spread optimism through a small act of kindness, that also means one wrong or insensitive act can be hard to recover from.
Exercise: I want you to think about your state of mind during the following two situations: 1) the last time you acted in a selfish manner towards somebody or something and 2) the last time you went out of your way to be kind to somebody else. Let me guess, you’d prefer your happiness level and overall state of mind during the latter situation rather than the former, am I right? Simple acts of kindness have the power to change our mood and our mood is a single product of our thoughts. AND, what’s more, our thoughts control our lives!
Understand that kindness should be thought of more of a life tool than an annoying burden. Keep this in your mind as you roll into tomorrow, partake in a few acts of kindness you normally would pass on; avoid possible acts of selfishness you would normally partake in; and assess how the aforementioned make you feel, going forward.
Have a great day everybody!
