Kindness

Kindness softens the harshness of the world.  Without kindness, life can feel bleak and lonely.

When present, kindness soothes us, creating space to handle our reactivity and relate wisely to uncertainty, change and loss.  Grasping for stability in a chaotic world, the untrained heart tries to control the flow of life, pursuing pleasure and resisting pain.  Kindness protects the heart from the trembling of fear, the distortion of ill will, and the poison of cruelty.  In moments of kindness, we connect with the beauty of our potential and temporarily free the heart from afflictive states. 

It’s easy to become so consumed by tasks and troubles that we believe we don’t have the bandwidth to be kind.  We may postpone it with a vague notion: “I’m too stressed out to be kind.”  Yet being kind generates energy and goodness.  Think of the last time you smiled at someone, offered a kind word, or gave someone a hug. 

Research confirms what we know from experience:  it feels good to be kind.  Lovingkindness meditation produces measurable increases in positive emotions leading to a wide range of benefits, from increased purpose and satisfaction in life to reduction in depression and symptoms of illness.  And kindness helps us metabolize hurt and return to balance when we’re caught in the throes of suffering.

Kindness is born of love.  With practice, kindness becomes a skill, a baseline attitude, an orientation to life that informs how we relate to ourselves and the world.

 ~Mildly hacked from:  Your Heart Was Made For This; Contemplative Practices for Meeting a World in Crisis with Courage, Integrity and Love by Oren Jay Sofer