Kindness is a word we hear often in our society. We are taught to spread kindness and be kind to others.
But why is it important to be positive rather than indifferent or inactive?
In this article, we will delve into what it means to be kind and why it is essential and good for society to practice kindness.
Why it is Important To Be Kind
There is a practical and real reason you should be kind to everyone you meet, even if you don't particularly like them.
The truth about society is that it has to function properly to exist. Everything that each individual does matters to some degree on a larger scale.
As Chief Seattle said, "Man does not weave the web of life, he is merely a strand in it. Whatever he does to the web, he does to himself."
If everyone had the mentality that they would care only for themselves and be rude, mean or unkind to others, the world would be a horrible place to live in.
Our kindness to others is an infectious contagion that helps to increase the overall quality of a civilization.
The more we are good and kind to others, the better our world will be. It's something we can all benefit from.
Kindness optimizes the function of society.
We need to be kind to each other.
What we do microscopically affects our world macroscopically.
Sure, there will be times when people do something to make you angry. You'll be upset and in a bad mood at times.
Hey, that's okay. You're human, it's going to happen from time to time.
However, cultivating an overall mentality to spread kindness and joy in your everyday life is enormously positive and beneficial to all.
Being kind to others has a unique way of allowing yourself to be more kind to yourself.
When you're kind to others, everyone wins.
How to Be Kind to Others
We hear about spreading kindness all the time, but what does that really mean? How do we act in kindness? What is the strategy of cultivating and spreading kindness?
Kindness is defined as the act or quality of being warm in your demeanor, actively friendly and inviting, generous with your attention, time and money, or considerate and understanding of others and what they're going through in life.
The first step to cultivating a kind attitude and behavior is to train your mind to think positively rather than negatively.
It's not easy to do for some people. Heck, It wasn't easy for me, either. But believe me, it can be learned. You can shape your mind into being positive.
We're all going through this life together and we only have one to live.
Understanding the finite and shortness of life is a great way to cultivate gratitude for the things you have and the life you're experiencing.
Become thankful for what you have. Be thankful for your eyesight, your hearing, and your ability to taste food. Be thankful that your heart is still beating as you read this article.
Be thankful that you woke up, even if you're sick, angry, sad, depressed etc. Always have the mindset of gratitude no matter what.
Having gratitude helps a person to think positively and emanate kindness from their core being.
Mindset is the foundation; build a good one.
Being kind to others can be as simple as smiling and saying hello rather than just walking by. It can be holding the door for somebody or offering them a push when their car is stuck in a patch of snow.
Kindness is being friendly. It's saying nice and positive things rather than mean and negative things. Kindness is donating your time or your attention to others.
Kindness is understanding what it means to be human. Kindness is appreciating that everyone has trials and tribulations in their lives and there's no need to make things worse for them.
There are countless ways to be kind. It's all about letting out an aura of positivity, love and goodness towards yourself and others.
Kindness in Action
Let's look at a real-life scenario where a person has a chance to be kind or to choose to be cold and indifferent.
Let's imagine that you're walking through the grocery store parking lot. A surly and grumpy-looking man walks by you carrying two large grocery bags. You make eye contact. You smile and say hi, but they just grumble and keep walking.
A moment later, the bags the grumpy man is carrying both tear open, spilling his groceries onto the ground.
Oh, by the way, it's raining.
What would you do in this situation?
Because the grumpy man refused to say hi in return, would you take delight in the fact that his groceries were all over the ground and slowly being destroyed by the rain?
Would you laugh at him?
I mean, you have every right to laugh at him, don't you? He wasn't nice to you, why be nice to him?
Laughing at him would be an unkind gesture.
Instead, would you think about the situation with a deeper mind and a deeper heart?
Would you consider that this person may have just received some bad medical news? Maybe his wife died recently. Maybe he just buried his mother or one of his children.
Maybe he's in debt. Maybe the bank is about to take his house. Maybe the groceries that he just bought, which now lay all over the ground, were purchased with the last little bit of money he had.
Even though he grumbled at you when you said hi, would you rush over to help him pick up his groceries before the rain completely destroyed them?
If you answered yes here, that would be a worthy act of kindness.
Helping someone, even if they've given you no good reason to want to, is the hallmark of kindness.
Your kind act may have been enough to change his life completely. Maybe your act of kindness was enough to restore that man's hope in humanity and give him another chance at living a happy life.
Maybe all he needed was to meet you.
When we act in kindness, we're making the world a better place.
The Bottom Line
We live in a culture that has, through social media, film and pop culture, celebrated being cruel, mean and unkind to others.
Falsely, being unkind has been equated to masculinity and power.
Wrong.
It requires strength and a powerful mind to remain kind in situations that invite a person to be cruel, mean or even violent.
Keeping your cool and being kind, even when you don't necessarily want to, is the quality of a wise and well-rounded person.
It shows strength to be kind, even when we may not want to be kind.
Frankly, it's cool to be kind.
Cool people are kind.
Be cool.
Let's make this world a better place.
