Practicing Kindness

Being kind is the secret to being happy and healthy. Would you know why?

Photo by Matt Collamer on Unsplash

That morning, like most others, the train was packed. A lot of impatient people complaining about everything and everyone made the atmosphere not only stuffy, but also unbreathable.

It was when, with great difficulty, an elderly woman entered the vehicle and leaned on the seats as she could. The predictable happened as an elderly person enters crowded public transit: most of those seated sleep as quickly as possible.

However, a six-year-old boy, nudged his father for permission to leave the place where he was. The father, indifferent, told him to stay seated. But the boy, aloud, invited her to come and sit in his place.

An awkward silence ensued in the collective, while the lady, gratefully, took the seat offered to her.

Kindness and Happiness

We have observed that, in the midst of countless possibilities of choice, those who opt for cooperation and ethics build healthier and more lasting relationships.

Being kindness a form of love, studies have shown that kind people increase their happiness because this virtue is linked to the gene that releases the hormone responsible for well-being, dopamine.

A popular saying says that kindness breeds kindness.

Kindness turns out to be contagious too, motivating others to be equally kind. When we are kind to others, we contribute to making the environment in which we live better.

Kindness is also a form of attention, respect and love. Kind people show courtesy, are polite and attentive making their relationships more human and irradiating those feelings to those around them.

Kindness and Health

Another benefit of being kind is that due to our pre-disposition to help others, we are likely to improve our mental health. Our immune system tends to be better, because there is a direct relationship between well-being, happiness and health.

In other words, when we are kind we help and care for others and for ourselves.

Putting ourselves in the other's place is always the best way to act. By being attentive to the needs of other, we conquer the awareness that what makes us happy and make others happy too.

Final Thoughts

Let us be kind giving our best to others and we will see how more complete and happy we'll be.

As kindness stems from the awakening of conscience, when we are willing to develop this virtue we also gain joy, lovingness, affability, friendship, tenderness, gratitude, respect, tenderness and tolerance.

The gesture of kindness is undoubtedly a big step towards changing a situation of neglect, indelicity or indifference this world so much needs.

Think about it!

Adapted from Momento Espírita, originally published on October 07, 2017.

See Also

• The Power of Love
• Weighted observation
• The most important bridge
• Bridge of Life
• A Thinking Power
• Divine Poem

When did we forget?

Most of us come from virtuous families so why so many of us become corrupt politicians, bad professionals and beings who only think about themselves?

Photo by CDC on Unsplash

In an interview, a young woman said that she was about seven years old when she went to the grocery store near her with her mother. While the mother did the shopping, she, the girl, hid a candy in her pocket.

On the way out, feeling like the smartest girl in the world, the girl showed the candy to the mom and said: Look, I took it without paying.

She received a stern look back. The mother took her by the hand, returned to the market, had her return the candy and asked her to apologize. The girl cried so much from being ashamed but now, years later she understands that that gesture taught her the value of honesty.

Childhood Education

It is possible that several of us have had similar experiences, so we ask: when did we forget the lesson? What made us forget our childhood education?

Childhood is the period in which the human being is mostly malleable to the construction of the self. It is the period when the education given by parents have more weight because after all, they know everything. It is the period where examples speak much louder than words.

How many of us, still had teachers who taught us to be responsible, disciplined and correct? Teachers who devoted their lives to teaching with their own examples? 

Why did we forget?

So why did we leave those noble lessons behind?

If most of us came from homes where we were taught virtues, what made us despise honor and honesty? Why so many of us become corrupt politicians, bad professionals, beings who only think about themselves?

So here are some points that you probably learned in your childhood that are worth reflecting:

• Do not take anything that does not belong to you.
• If you find an object, look for the owner because he must be missing it.
• Respect your neighbor, your space, your property.
• Public goods belong to the people and everyone should benefit from them. No one has to take for themselves what belongs to everyone.
• Respect the domestic servant, the postman, the garbage man. They are valuable contributors to our lives.
• Remember to thank the diligent work of those who delicate their lives to the public.
• Greet peoples smile.
• Give up your place, in the collective, to the elderly, to people with special needs, to pregnant women, to those who carry small children in their arms.
• Give way to traffic, wait a second longer for the pedestrian to complete the crossing, before starting off with speed, just because the signal has opened.

Final Thoughts

Laws are created so that by obeying them, we live better as a society. Let us make a return to childhood and remember the virtuous examples given to us by our parents and our teachers.

The world of tomorrow awaits our correct actions today. Now.

Adapted from Momento Espírita, originally published on August 04, 2015.

See Also

• The Power of Love
• Weighted observation
• The most important bridge
• Bridge of Life
• A Thinking Power
• Divine Poem