Happiness and Kindness

Posted on Happy Minds!

"One of the main points is kindness. With kindness, with love and compassion, with this feeling that is the essence of brotherhood, sisterhood, one will have inner peace. This compassionate feeling is the basis of inner peace." --His Holiness the Dalai Lama



Kindness is not something difficult. On the contrary, being kind is very easy! It doesn’t take more then a smile, a small compliment or a little help with carrying groceries, to give another person the feeling that he or she is appreciated and supported. Being kind is so very easy, it can be done throughout the day without causing any fatigue or inconvenience! All living beings long for kindness, so it is never wasted or spoiled.

Of course, we all have this enormous Ego that stands in the way.
“If he or she isn’t kind to me, why should I be kind?”
“I want to be kind to that person, but then he or she acts in this or that way and instead I get mad!”
“If people wouldn’t be so nasty, I could be more kind to them!”

In the end, this kind of thinking comes down to the basic assumption: I cannot give because I do not receive. “Only a fool brings water to the desert”. Well, we all have good and bad characteristics. Spending a lot of time considering negative traits in yourself and/or others, is quite an effective way to create discord, quarrels and dissatisfaction.
In stead, putting some effort in being kind to others contains many opportunities for tolerance, forbearance, friendship and love.

Kindness is like an enormous well. All people are little streams that feed this well. If more and more people dare to open their heart and try to be kind, the well will flood. It will devour all little streams so we can feel connected and easily flush the pain caused by selfishness.



Kindness doesn’t cost you anything, so why would anyone want to tightfistedly persevere in unkind behavior? It really doesn’t make much sense! Of course, long term behavioral patterns are hard to burst, but if you decide to be kind to someone at least one time a day, and gradually increase your kind behavior, this might make a huge difference on the long run!

Read some kindness quotes...