Kindness...It's Necessary & Really Not That Hard

In this world of sometimes mean, conflict-ridden behavior, how can we rise above and shift ourselves into a place of love and kindness? We can begin a ripple of kindness today! The world needs it, don't you think?

Transcript

Namaste and welcome to In The Flow with Lori Albert. How is everybody today? I hope you're doing okay today. So this little happy medium has a bone to pick. Not really. But you know, I spend my days looking for lessons in life so that I can talk about them and so that we can all learn together. And oh my gosh, I have been so struck these last, Well, Lots of weeks I guess you could say, About the lack of human kindness. You know, The lack of human kindness lately has been making me so sad, Truly, You know, And so disheartened. And I can't help it. You know, It just makes me want to just run out into the street or run into that whenever I see like I go to the grocery store and I see people being so unkind to each other. And so I think to myself, You know, Like I was saying, It makes me want to just run in the middle of the grocery store and go, Can we all just get along please? Just be a little bit kind, A little bit, Just a little bit. You know, And wearing masks while it's very, I mean, I think it's important to wear a mask and all that stuff. I just, It's like sometimes people like you can't see that somebody is either smiling or, Or they're not smiling or this or that, You know, It's very difficult. And I wanted to talk about that today, You know, Because things have been crazy and I wanted to talk about how to be maybe just a little bit more kind. Like why is it so difficult to be a little bit kinder? So at any rate, So I was listening to David G yesterday because I, You know, I, I'm a student of his, I guess you could say. So I was, And he started talking about the three gates, Right? And this is old wisdom, But he said, He actually said that David Simon, Somebody that he used to study with, Describe these questions as the three gates. So before you say anything to anybody, Right, You're supposed to, There's these three sort of, I don't know what you call magical questions that you ask yourself before you, Before you, You know, Ask before you, These, These words come across your lips. Okay. So the first gate that it must pass before it passes your lips, Right, Is, Is it true? Is it true? And that to me makes so much sense because obviously, Is it true? Like, You know, When I, When I think about some of these situations where people get angry in public or whatever, And, And, You know, If they ask themselves, Is this true? Yeah. Think about that. Right? So if you ask yourself, Is it true before it passes your lips? Is it true to you? Is it true to society? Is it true to the world? That type of truth. Okay. The second question is, Is it kind? Is it kind? Is it, Is it kind? Is it something that you would, Is it something your mother would be happy you said? You know, Is it kind? That really kind of needs no explanation, I guess at that point, Right? Is it kind? Is it true? And is it kind? So those are the two gates. The third gate is, Is it necessary? And that is something kind of key there if you think about it. Is it necessary? I you know, It's interesting because you can look through these, Look at these three gates. And David G does probably a way better job explaining it than I am. But, But in the interest of time here, Right, Is it true? Is it kind? And is it necessary? Is it necessary? Like, Do you really feel like that you have to say this? And if the answer is yes, Then you say it, Right? But what's interesting about is it necessary to me is that only you can determine what's necessary in this case. Do you know what I'm saying? Like, Some people, Some people would want to say, It's necessary. It is necessary. It's important that I speak my truth and blah, Blah, Blah, Right? And so in that point, Yes, It's necessary to you. It may not be necessary to other people, But it's necessary to you. And that's okay. We're allowed to stand up for our beliefs, Right? But it has to pass the other two gates as well, Right? Is it true? And is it necessary? So interesting three questions, Isn't it? So super fascinating. Super super fascinating, Right? So today that's what I wanted to discuss because if we could all embrace these three gates, Our world would be a completely different place. Imagine all of the advertisements on TV, Political or otherwise, Like forget it doesn't even matter about that, Right? I get so disheartened. Where have we gone as a society? Where have we gone? I am not saying I'm perfect by any stretch of the means, But where have we gone as a society? We need to ask these three questions. Is it true? Is it kind? And is it necessary? So we are going to meditate on this, Shall we? Yes, I'm sorry to be so deep first thing in the morning, But that's what is so beautiful about these short little things that we do, Right? And then we meditate and then we start our day and we're ready to go, Right? So let's get ourselves comfy. Get yourself comfy. And whenever you feel comfortable, You can close your eyes. Let's take a nice deep breath in. Really slow breathing in the beautiful air of the morning and breathe out. There's nothing better than a deep breath in. Let's do that again. Let's take a nice long, Long, Long deep breath in. Really really slow.