Kindness really is the key that unlocks every door.
I promised updates and learnings about kindness. And here is what I am discovering so far…
- Kindness is a way of being and it starts in our minds. When we are self critical, disparaging, or just plain mean to ourselves, even just once, it starts a wave that can, and usually does, turn into a tsunami.
- Kindness is coming at us all the time. All the time. It is mostly a matter of if we are seeing it or not. And seeing it or not is contingent on looking for it or not. Being in active pursuit of any signs of kindness not only make you more likely to see it (because hey you are looking for it, very “where’s Waldo”), but it also increases its happening because we become like magnets calling it to us.
- Kindness and gratitude are like siblings. Related. Support each other. Are even better together.
- There is evidence that the old “random acts of kindness” actually make us healthier and happier. The research was done on being kind to others… and I believe it doubles up if we can do it to and for ourselves.
- Thinking we don’t deserve it, that we will get complacent and stop being as productive as we need to be, is what stops most people from being kind to themselves. Those are lies.
- A person’s ability to be kind is a good demonstrator of character.
- Even though kindness (to others) costs me a great deal in many small ways, I wouldn’t do it any other way. Now I just need to learn to apply that same principle to being kind to myself. As soon as I do that, my entire life will change…. Wait for it, because I know it is coming.
- Kind and nice are not the same thing.
- Kindness is contagious.
- When I am kind to myself, the world joins in. When I make kindness a way of life and reject other options, life starts to flow, it is easier and there is a peacefulness that unlocks everything.
- Playfulness expands the reach and power of kindness. It’s like playfulness has an exponential capacity – it makes more of whatever it touches. I have a bad habit of going all serious on myself and the world…play takes that way, and opens space and lifts my heart. It brings people to me, the right people. Which makes me kinder to myself.
What are you learning?