Hello my name's Ian Tucker and welcome to 10 steps for a better life.
Step 3.
Practice kindness.
We have a choice you and I.
Every day we get to choose our actions or our behaviour.
And for every action there is always a reaction or it creates an emotion,
How we feel.
Let's begin by looking at a few actions that are very much part of you and I.
Selfishness.
Revenge.
Aggression.
Manipulation.
Now we may not be very comfortable hearing these,
But we know that we have experienced all of the above.
But why would we live from that place?
Why would we act in such a way?
Well we've come to believe that it protects us from the outside world.
It keeps us safe from people and things.
We create this hard shell and over time we live from there.
But there's a part of us that knows it's not the way.
It's not our true nature.
And in time such actions will and do create an inner conflict.
So how can we break free from this hard shell?
How can we be more authentic?
More true to ourselves?
More comfortable in our own skin?
Well let's look at another range of actions just as much a part of you and I as that first list.
Caring.
Generous.
Compassionate.
Complementary.
The list could go on and on and on.
But one word defines all of them.
Kindness.
And here's the good news.
You're full of it.
You have it on tap.
You have kindness in abundance.
So how can we start to cultivate kindness in a world that can sometimes be cold and cynical?
Well here's an invitation from me to you.
Each day practice a random act of kindness to a stranger and tell no one.
However small,
Your simple act that may seem like nothing to you could and possibly will change that person's life.
And here's the great thing about living from a position of giving rather than expecting.
What you give to others you reveal in yourself.
So if you're giving compliments,
If you're giving generosity,
If you're giving compassion,
It becomes part of who you are.
You experience everything that you give to others.
It's a self-fulfilling prophecy.
So I would ask you to move to a position of kindness.
Being kind each day will change your life.
It will change your life with your work colleagues.
It will change the family dynamic.
It will dissolve any conflict that you have in your life.
And best of all,
It will change the relationship that you have with yourself.
