Kindness
is like an old fashioned virtue that we all seem to have heard about,
but are not quite sure how to practice. What does being kind involve?
Can we only be kind to people who have less than us in material
terms, or is it okay to do something kind for someone who seems to
have more money than we do?
Kindness
is not a tangible thing, but a fleeting emotion that fills your heart
with joy and satisfaction. This sensation usually comes up when you
do something nice for someone else, without any expectations from
them to reciprocate. In fact, doing random acts of kindness allows
you to enrich your own lives as well as the lives of those who you
perform these acts for.
What
can a random act of kindness entail? Giving a bottle of cold water to
a stranger in the summer heat. Allowing the person behind you, to go
ahead of you at the billing counter. Hold the door open for someone
exiting the grocery store. Passing out a packet of biscuit to street
vendor at the traffic light. Speaking for five minutes to a
grandmother sitting on a bench in the park.
Give a stranger a
compliment. Give someone a hug. Write a letter to someone who you
haven’t spoken to in ages. Donate books to a library. Donate
clothes to an orphanage. Visit someone in the hospital with flowers.
Babysit for a busy mother. Spend time with a veteran and listen to
his stories and old memories.
There
are so many acts of kindness just waiting to be performed. Not all of
them cost money. Some simply require a caring thought and a bit of
your time.
Today’s
Call to Action
How
do you begin a practice of performing random acts of kindness? Here’s
a few suggestions that you can start implementing today.
Look
around you to see where an act of yours could make the life of
someone a bit easier. This means being mindful of the people in your
surroundings and not being stuck on your smartphone and oblivious to
the world. A hug, a compliment, a thank you can all go a long way in
making someone feel better.
If
you need more motivation and practice, decide that you will conduct a
single act of kindness every day for a month. You can create a list
with thirty activities and tick them off as you complete them. Having
a print out of the list to look at each morning will help to stay
focused. It is interesting to see how many items you can cross off
the list and just how soon!
You
will find that as you get into the habit of making other people more
comfortable, you will also feel better about yourself. After all the
vibes that you send out into the Universe, will always return to you
tenfold.
Affirmation
– I consistently perform random acts of kindness. Kindness costs
nothing, but brings me great joy. Kindness is a gift we all can
afford to give.
I
wish you a life full of random acts of kindness.
Love
and light, always
Cashmere
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