Be kind

Be kind

You are the center of your world, but you are not the center of the world.

How much of what we suffer from today as a society comes from lack of kindness?  Maybe we can start a new wave of respect and attention that can turn this unkind tide?

It’s hard when you feel like you are under attack.  The constant barrage of negative attack messaging is designed to cull us from the herd and make us feel weak and vulnerable.

That’s a challenge.  Kindness requires strength.  Kindness requires an outward focus and trust that only comes with the solidly grounded.  It is harder to be kind than it is to be angry and afraid.

Kindness cannot exist with anger and hate.  By practicing kindness, we rob the anger and hate of its strength.  Our kindness is the eraser to hate’s stark black lines.

Acts of kindness require an inner harmony, an inner strength and a confidence.  We must be at peace with ourselves, comfortable in our own skins to offer kindness to others.

Kindness is an outward act.  It is an interaction with the world.  We use kindness as a projection of our inner strength and confidence and by doing so we influence the world around us.  Through acts of kindness we bring kindness into the broader world.

Kindness is a communal antibody.  Kindness released infects the anger and hate around us and slowly builds complimentary companions as it is played forward.  Kindness is community.  It is community based on core strength and active love.

Think of kindness as a glowing halo in a sea of polluted water.  Kindness is a position of strength.  Kindness acted upon is more infectious when it is broadly applied regardless of caste or class.  Kindness to a old dog is kindness all the same.  It creates the same karmic ripples in the universe.  It fights the same fight.

Kindness does not mean that you are abdicating your rights to someone else’s power.  You can be kind and still say no.  You can be kind and still take a stand for what you believe in.  In fact the kindness softens the edge of these things and takes the sting out.

It’s not personal.  You can be kind and strong.  I would argue that being kind in these situations requires more strength than reciprocating the hate.

But be sure you are not using kindness as a weapon from a position of power.  That’s not kindness.  That’s being a passive aggressive asshole.  Kindness from a position of inner strength is much different than kindness deployed as an act of power.

Make sure your kindness is a true gift, without expectation of recompense or return.  Because you are strong enough and wise enough to understand that your gift of kindness is given without expectations and the response to it has no reciprocate power over you.

Just be kind.  To everyone.  Consistently.  That karma will come back around.

Today, as you rush through your busy life, take the time to be kind.  Start with those you live with.  Your family, your friends and your support group.  Don’t just rush by with a grunt.  Take the time to look them in the eye and say “Please” and “Thank You” and maybe even “I love you…and I’m grateful to have you in my life.”

Put a strong hand on a loved one’s shoulder and look them deep in the eye; in the soul.  Give hugs if it is appropriate.  Take a beat, take a breath to truly be present with them.

As you wander out into the world take your kindness with you.  Nod and smile to the commuters you let into the traffic flow.  Make eye contact.  Remember to pause and say something nice.  Notice something positive.  Ask a question that they care about.

Today you have the power to be the antibody to the hate and anger.  Today you can fight back by bringing kindness into your world.

Today you can be the ripple in the pond, the small stone that starts the avalanche of kindness.

And it will make you feel wonderful.