K is for Kindness

Be kind to all life.

“Be kind, for everyone you meet is fighting a harder battle.”  ― Plato

As I journey through life I notice that there is not enough kindness showing in the world. At least, I can’t get enough of it in my field of awareness. Maybe it’s just that the blare of bad news blasting from television screens or leaping from the printed page drowns out any notice I might make of it. Whatever the case, I am just not getting enough of it. Kindness is easy to recognize. In everyday acts we might notice it when someone lets us ahead of them in a grocery line, or picks up the check during a lunch date, or holds open a door just because, or gives up a seat to an elder on a crowded bus. Maybe that is why when I see those little video gems of people being good to one another that roll across my news feed on Facebook or Twitter or Tumblr, I am eager to pass it on to others. I want to help spread the laughter, the light, the life. I want to help bring the shine to someone’s day. I want to be kind.

 “Kindness is my religion”  ~The Dalai Lama

Kindness is the elixir of compassion. It is that  most gentle of acts which says I recognize you. I see you. I acknowledge your place and space in this world. You matter. I see it in that extra step–the stopping to tell a person that you care, that they are appreciated, that life would be incomplete without them. Stopping a moment and stepping outside of our lives to notice another is an act of kindness, an extension of our love. It is an acknowledgement of our solidarity as spirit beings inhabiting fleshly temples and all that that entails. It is a co-sign that we are a team riding along through space on the big blue marble we all call home.

 No act of kindness, no matter how small, is ever wasted.  ~Aesop

Kindness is a balm for what ails us. And it really doesn’t take much for us to share some. If we stop the clock on our preoccupation with our own lives for a moment, we may find that our lives are enriched by that moment of giving, that we are made more whole, that we can go on now, that our own lives grow stronger. An act of kindness can take us out of ourselves and bring us back again. We can  have a blast doing kind things for others, most especially when they least expect it. It feels wonderful to be kind without motive, without thought of recompense. That itself is exhilarating. Oh! The rewards are great all the way around. Now that’s a trip worth taking.

© 2014 Egyirba High All Rights Reserved

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