Have you noticed how often peope are using the word kindness these days? It’s a word we humans have known and practised in varying ways for centuries, but I am betting that many of us haven’t stopped to seriously think about what it truly means and how we can incorporate it more into our daily lives. However, thanks to COVID, we are beginning to stop and take a closer look at what it means for us and how we can find the time to use it for the benefit of others. Because it’s a word that has come back into vogue, I have been tossing around in my mind how I might tackle the subject for my next post. The answer came when I discovered an article I bookmarked some time ago: “Thirty Inspiring Kindness Quotes That Will Enlighten You” – Anonymous.
Here are the ones that grabbed my attention:
“A little thought and a little kindness are worth more than a great deal of money.” John Ruskin
” Single act of kindness throws out roots in all directions, and the roots spring up and make new trees.” Amelia Earhart
“Constant kindness can accomplish much. As the sun makes ice melt, kindness causes misunderstanding, mistrust, and hostility to evaporate.” Albert Schweitzer
“Kindness is like snow – it beautifies everything it covers.” Kahil Gibran
“Kindness is the language which the deaf can hear and the blind can see.” Mark Twain
“I’ve been searching for ways to heal myself, and I’ve found that kindness is the best way.” Lady Gaga
Kindness is more important than wisdom and the recognition of this is the beginning of wisdom.” Theodore Isaac Rubin
Not satisfied with reading about the thoughts and definitions of some of our modern day thinkers, I decided to delve into the history of the word kindness. My search began with the only dictionary I happen to have on hand: the Webster’s Dictionary – Basic English Words For Everyday Use. Would you believe that the actual word“kindness” wasn’t even in it! I have never liked Webster’s probably because I am not an American so have vowed to buy another Oxford dictionary which I lost somewhere along my life’s journey. I then decided to check out Google to see what they would come up with and found a modern day definition which defined kindness as ” friendly, generous and considerate actions to benefit others who do not expect anything in return.” This was followed by the Bible’s definition describing kindness as a selfless, compassionate, and merciful act for everyone. Both are good descriptions of what it is, but I wanted to find out more about the origin of the word so opted to find out what Wikopedia had to say.
They gave me two more definitions which really struck home for me:
“Kindness and love are the most curative herbs and agents in human intercourse” by Friedrich Nietzsche, a German philosopher, and ” You should respond with kindness toward evil done to you, and you will destroy in an evil person that pleasure which he derives from evil” by Leo Tolstoy the great Russian novelist of “War and Peace” fame.
Another little tidbit I learned is that a thesaurus can suggest up to 95 definitions for kindness, such as tolerance, charity, sympathy, understanding, good will, and unselfishness to name just a few whereas there are only 20 antonyms for the opposite to kindness.
Before I leave these revelations on what constitutes kindness, I would like to add that acts of kindness not only will affect those you use it on or with, but also on you your ‘self’. Have you ever noticed that after doing something that helps another person often helps you to feel better? This is especially true if you do it spontaneously because you want to do it not because you feel you should out of guilt or pity as our religions often taught us. You can take this learning one step further, and honestly say that the more kindness you show to others, the more kind you will become to your ‘self’. Maybe you haven’t thought of it that way, but over time you will notice that you will become better in so many little ways: you will start to feel better about your self worth, you might notice that more feelings of joy will appear in your life, you could gain more energy and motivation to do the things you have been putting off, you could become more loving towards your self and others, and you may possibly gain more material things such as money or fame if that is what you want. No matter what you may be searching for and hoping to find, you will give yourself and others the best gift you ever could by practicing kindness. You will be bringing more light into our world which sorely needs some. Our ability to spread kindness all around is a good place to start. It just might save us. It definitely is all up to us, isn’t it?
Some pictures from my previous posts which depicted for me the meaning of kindness.
Owner of one of my favourite coffee places in Chiang Mai.Another coffee shop owner in Chiang Mai…so sweet and kind.Protecting our forests in Nova ScotiaLocal farming feeding his baby lambs. Macaw monkeys grooming each other.Little Elizabeth, my new friend I met at Ayer’s Rock in Australia.Little children in Cambodia who wanted me to take their pictute.
I look forward to hearing from anyone who reads this to share what personal experience you have had when carrying out an act of kindness. Any comments from my readers are greatly appreciated and if you liked this post, then please tap on the like button below.
Where has the time gone! I can’t believe that my last blog was published at the end of April over three months ago. It’s no wonder that feelings of guilt have been knocking at my door. Of course, I am as guilty as any decent human being for making up excuses about why we aren’t doing what we know deep down we ought be doing. Okay, perhaps I am being a bit harsh on myself because I need to acknowledge the fact that with the arrival of spring, I needed to get my veggie garden started. By June my transplants had to be put in and before I could catch my breath lettuce, spinach, and other greens were all begging to be picked. My days were consumed by my gardening and attempts to do a bit of landscaping around my property. Dare I compare gardening to a battle that just seems to get a little bit more difficult every year? The other battle I had to overcome was the plain and simple fact that I had lost my mojo to write. I could blame this on COVID, rampant inflation, unpredictable weather, along with myriad other reasons, but I won’t because the truth of it was that I felt I didn’t really have anything to write about. I hadn’t travelled anywhere for over a year and was faced with the glaring reality that my travelling days were probably over forever.
Finding happiness is going to be a huge challenge for me and so many others in 2022 but we can do it if we want to. After three years of a myriad of changes in my life, such as leaving a marriage of 25 years, two moves, buying a house, and learning to adapt to living on my own, I am finally in a good place where I know that I must get back to my writing. I have promised myself, let’s call it a New Year’s resolution, that there will be no more excuses for procrastinating. After considering a number of ideas for writing about my travels “within” rather than “without” since COVID isn’t allowing me to travel very far these days, I chose to tackle a topic of interest to me for a very long time…happiness! Why have we human beings been pursuing happiness, this elusive state of mind, ever since we came to this earth, and why have we failed so miserably at achieving it?
When I stop to reflect on this topic, I realise that my interest in what happiness is began more than 20 years ago. Up to that point, it really was just a word with no significant meaning attached to it. In fact, I had never even stopped to consider whether I was a happy person or not. I was too busy working and getting on with my busy life.
Then one day out of the blue, I overheard a conversation between two people where one of them remarked that in his experience, he had discovered that many people were unable to share in the happiness of another. He concluded that it was almost as if they were jealous of anyone who was always happy. On the other hand, he wondered if it was a case of that old saying “Misery loves company.” It’s true that we all want to be happy, yet we can’t seem to achieve it for some reason. Oh yes, some of us can put on a happy face when underneath we are not. It could be a mask covering up latent anger, sadness, or anxiety which we don’t want others to see. So I began to think about why we would rather talk about our misery instead of doing something about it. Are we afraid to seek our own happiness because it might seem selfish, or is it because we have the wrong idea about what could bring it to us causing us to search in all the wrong places?
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