Kindness
From 16Guidelines
What is Kindness?
Kindness says 'I want you to be happy.' It is the golden rule of treating others as you would like to be treated yourself. It means to be friendly, caring, supportive, considerate, respectful, fair, generous, benevolent and affectionate. When we show kindness to others, or are the happy receipient of a kind thought, word or deed we instantly enjoy a lovely warm feeling.
Kindness is mutually beneficial - everybody feels better when kindness is present. It carries great wisdom yet often takes the form of a simple gesture: a phone call, an offer of support or assistance, sitting silently with a friend, remembering the little things that make someone happy. It can be easy to have a kind thought for someone we love but rather more challenging to have for someone we find difficult! Consciously trying to cultivate kind thoughts for those people can change our relationships with them and encourage us to be more sympathetic rather than knotted up in frustration or anger.
Kindness shows that we appreciate and value others. It is also important to remember to be kind to ourselves, to remember that we too deserve all the good things that we would with for the people that we love. Being kind to yourself can often be harder than you might expect. The 'I should' and 'I ought' thoughts encourage an attitude of unkindness. They say we are not good enough, that we somehow fall short of the mark, and have failed. Kindness is closely related to caring. Our own happiness will grow abundantly when we start being kind to ourselves, taking care of our basic needs for rest, sustenance and peace. It will also equip us very naturally to want to be kind to others.
Quotes
"Kindness in words creates confidence. Kindness in thinking creates profoundness. Kindness in giving creates love."
- Lao Tzu
"The poverty of the West is loneliness and indifference. There is hunger for ordinary bread, and there is hunger for love, for kindness, and for thoughtfulness — and this is the great poverty that makes people suffer so much."
- Mother Teresa
"Too often we underestimate the power of a touch, a smile, a kind word, a listening ear, an honest compliment, or the smallest act of caring, all of which have the potential to turn a life around."
- Leo Buscaglia
"Whether one believes in a religion or not, and whether one believes in rebirth or not, there isn't anyone who doesn't appreciate kindness and compassion."
- His Holiness the Dalai Lama
"Wherever there is a human being, there is an opportunity for a kindness."
- Seneca
"Life is mostly froth and bubble,
Two things stand like stone:
Kindness in another's trouble,
Courage in your own."
- Adam Lindsay Gordon
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