One of the simplest treasures we can give to others is the gift of kindness. It cost no money to be kind, and it takes no talent. In fact, all you have to possess to practice kindness is a willing heart to undertake the action and actually be kind. Many are the person I have met who could benefit from putting the well-being of another, even in a small way, before the seemingly never-ending drama of their lives.  Drop a pebble into the lake that is kind and watch the ripples flow from it. Who knows where they will eventually reach. Your conscious choice to show compassion for another may ripple throughout the world.

There is probably no better method for improving a person’s outlook on life than to experience a little kindness. All people deserve your kindness, and like most things in life, the more willingly this gift is given, the more easily it is received. Are you the kind one today? 

Kindness is Contagious

One of the great things to see is that one act of kindness provides happiness that will be shared with someone else, one way or another. You can’t help it when someone is kind to you, and there is a feeling of warmth inside that you want to share with someone else. And most people do.  Some people practice random acts of kindness and bring light to the world. Some people are just kind to others all of the time. It must be a wonderful way to live.

We can only be responsible for our behavior and choices and the example we set for other people to follow. Take control of your actions today and implement kindness into each interaction that comes your way. You will be amazed at how much difference it will make in your life and, of course, the lives of others that you come in contact with during the day. What is the alternative? To be selfish and self-centered, only concerned with yourself and how everything affects you? Let those things go and accept the chance to change the world in one small positive way, and it can be done just by treating the people you happen to come in contact with today with a conscious choice to be kind.

Kindness Defeats Mean

It is important to practice kindness with those who are unkind. They absolutely need it most. To be moving through your life and to consciously be unkind to others, a person must have experienced some awful things. Kindness can break through the darkness and bring light into those spaces where mean, desperation once resided.  Some of the people I have cared about the most were tremendously unkind and callous to me. It took a while, but I had to forgive them because their life must be a miserable experience if they could treat other people with that kind of cruelty.

A mean person who does not practice kindness has probably forgotten how it feels when someone takes the time to be kind to them. Once they experience that, there is a chance that they will develop a more positive outlook and perhaps practice kindness toward others. Again it is important to stress that you can only be responsible for your actions. Others are responsible for theirs. If they choose to be mean, hateful, spiteful, and unhappy, that is their choice. Your choice is not to treat them like their condition is permanent. Kill ’em with kindness. That is all you can do.

Be Grateful

Look at your life and find the positives. I know there are many dark things and days in life. But there is always something good and positive too.  Always. You have to find it, recognize it, and be grateful for it.  Gratitude and kindness walk hand in hand in life.  Even if many tough situations come your way, even though you feel defeated, sad, and worn out, do you want to live in a world where there is no kindness?  Be angry for a time but then find forgiveness for those who hurt you, gratitude for what you learned, and the positive things in your life.  And, of course, find a way to treat someone out there in your life with kindness.  It is up to you to determine what kind of world you and your loved ones inhabit.  If cold, harsh words and actions are all you have, your world will reflect a shiny, cold hardness right back at you.

Amazingly, the people who look for good tend to experience good. Kindness brings more kindness.  Experiment today. Do something simple, like hold a door for someone, or let them go in front of you in line at the store.  Watch how that small action affects people. They often, almost immediately, pass the gesture on to another in short order.  Consciously thinking of others and their well-being first. That is the essence of kindness, you matter, and I see your value.  Remember that when you are contemplating your behavior.

Sometimes it takes only one act of kindness and caring to change a person’s life.” – Jackie Chan

“Do things for people not because of who they are or what they do in return, but because of who you are.” – Harold S. Kushner

“Carry out a random act of kindness, with no expectation of reward, safe in the knowledge that one day someone might do the same for you.” – Princess Diana

“Because that’s what kindness is. It’s not doing something for someone else because they can’t, but because you can.” – Andrew Iskander

“Remember, there’s no such thing as a small act of kindness. Every act creates a ripple with no logical end.” – Scott Adams.