On Kindness

When you are friendly, generous,
understanding and loving with yourself,
you can be friendly, generous,
understanding and loving with all life.

Be friendly with yourself.
Be generous with yourself.
Be understanding with yourself.
Be loving with yourself.

When you are kind to yourself,
You can be kind to all life.

Be kind to yourself.
Be kind to all life.

Kindness finds presence in the world through benevolence. Kindness is a way of being well meaning with life. With kindness life is inherently good and the goodness of life is here to be awakened and celebrated. The goodness of kindness awakens in befriending the friendly, the generous, the understanding and the loving.

The conversation with kindness begins with oneself. When you awaken the kindness in you, you bring your inherent goodness to life. Kindness arises from your heart and flows into the world, uplifting your life and all life you share kindness with. To begin with kindness, be kind to yourself. Being kind to yourself is about being friendly, generous, understanding and loving to yourself. When you can be kind to yourself, you can be kind to others.

When you share kindness in the world from the inside out, it becomes a powerful connector in the world. Wherever kindness is shared it is passed on indefinitely, forming an invisible chain of flourishing well meaning and generosity. By its very nature, kindness loves continuously unfolding and sharing its inherent goodness without asking or expecting anything in return. Kindness creates visibility to help the giver see and the receiver be seen. Kindness brings acknowledgement to help the giver understand and the receiver be understood. The friendliness of kindness is a celebration of the belonging, presence and existence of life itself. While it is part of human nature to be kind, kindness is a choice and an attitude. Choose to be kind to yourself and everything else. Choose to consciously bring more kindness into the world. Kindness connects us to our shared humanity and uplifts all life on earth. Kindness fills the world with an abundance of possibility.

3 ideas to bring more kindness into your life:

1. Transforming Unkindness:

   • Reflect on where you are unkind to yourself.

   • For each reflection, write down a specific act of kindness to counteract it.

   • Make a commitment to practice these new acts of kindness once a day for the next 40 days.

2. Acts of Kindness Inventory:

   • Make two lists: acts of kindness you have given and acts of kindness you have received.

   • Next, brainstorm new ideas — creative acts of kindness that go beyond the things you’ve shared or received before.

   • Over the next month, set a goal to have 40 acts of kindness compiled into one acts of kindness list.

3. Daily Acts of Kindness: For 40 consecutive days, share one act of kindness from your inventory with someone new daily.

3 questions for reflection on kindness:

1. How does consciously practicing kindness every day change your perspective, mood or connection with others?

2. Does focusing on kindness elevate your self-compassion? Does it amplify your capacity to be kind to others?

3. What do you imagine could happen if you made kindness a daily priority for the next year?

3 insights on kindness

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