Hi there.
I'd like to talk about kindness today.
The truth is I'm talking about kindness now and at the end of September I want to do a whole talk on a Sunday morning about kindness.
I think it's really important right now.
I found a quote that my mother shared with me by Albert Schweitzer that I really love and I'm going to read it.
I'm going to look over here.
He says,
Constant kindness can accomplish much as the Sun makes ice melt.
Kindness causes misunderstanding,
Mistrust,
And hostility to evaporate.
We are in the midst of a political season approaching the election of a president for our country and of course people are passionate and excited from all walks of this presidential election and I get it.
And I've also noticed that sometimes in our excitement we're not that kind.
And it's a reminder to me that in all seasons,
Even a presidential election season,
That kindness matters and that kindness is important to us.
Now I want to start out right away by saying when I talk about kindness a lot of times,
Especially at a time like now,
We distance ourselves from kindness and we excuse ourselves from kindness because we think the stakes are really high,
The issues are really important,
We can't be kind.
Or if we're facing some injustice in our life or someone is violating our boundaries,
We might feel that anger is the best reaction to get them to stop.
And I'm not saying that we let ourselves become a doormat or we let ourselves become weak.
Kindness does not equal weakness.
Honestly I think kindness,
Clear,
Kind,
Powerful kindness is the strongest position that we can take in any conversation.
I mean just think about it.
Think about all the times in life where someone may not have treated you kindly.
Did it work?
Did it make you feel better?
Did it make them feel better?
I don't think so.
I'm trying very hard and have been trying very hard to think of a scenario where not being kind would pay off.
I see these beautiful scripts written in Hollywood on television shows and movies and documentaries where people can say some very well rehearsed words very angrily or chew someone out or express their anger in a way and there's a part of me that wants that justice too that goes yeah that was really good.
And yet in the realm of human behavior I think that kindness can be strength even when asserting our boundaries.
We can say to anyone no.
It doesn't have to be mean.
It doesn't have to be rude.
No you stupid idiot.
No you whatever name you want to label.
It doesn't have to be like that.
We can say that just doesn't work for me and I need you to stop right now.
This doesn't feel good.
I don't agree with you and here's why.
We can have kind conversations and I'm asserting today that in making that choice we foster the connection between us humans and we actually forward conversations,
Forward relationships.
We make a choice that's centered in our heart space.
So why be kind?
Why make the choice to be kind?
I think for me there's two really important reasons.
The first one is that I believe that part of what we're all here to do as spiritual beings is to duplicate the nature of the divine in our experience,
In our daily life to find as many ways as we can to be god-like,
To sense that God presence as us and live in it and from it and express it.
And what I know to be true about the divine is that even though there appear to be all sorts of things not working in our world,
It's loving kindness is pervasive and every time we choose kindness and we choose to be like that,
We can even be like that loving parent that can have a boundary but can do it very kindly.
We duplicate the nature of the divine and I'm going to assert that we're always going to be happier,
Feel more fulfilled and feel proud of ourselves when we end a day or a lifetime of saying to ourselves I might have made some mistakes.
I might not have done everything perfectly but I was a kind person.
I was god-like in my interactions with people.
I allowed them to say things I didn't agree with or that I thought were silly or even stupid at times without judging them and jumping all over them.
I chose kindness more often than not.
So I'm duplicating the nature of the divine.
That's reason one.
Reason two,
We hear it all.
We've heard it for eons.
We reap what we sow.
I think it's fascinating that oftentimes people who don't choose kindness on a regular basis are often angry at how unkind the world is or is to them.
We must sow kindness,
Kind interactions,
Kind conversations,
Kind-heartedness because what we put out we get back.
And so it's very important for us to understand and be motivated by these two reasons and I'm sure there are other reasons that you can think of.
If you think of any,
Put them in the chat for this recording and let us know.
I'd love to hear some of your reasons to be kind.
Then how do I actually go about being kind every single day?
Well I think there's a couple of really clear ways that we can do it.
We can every day choose to choose it and check it.
That's what I would say.
Choose it and check it.
Choose kindness every morning when I wake up.
I choose today to be kind and every night as I go to bed check it.
Check the day.
Where did I miss the mark?
Where was I possibly not as kind as I wanted to be?
And make note of it.
Go back and make amends for it if I need to or the next day choose to be better.
Choose to be more clearly kind.
That's important for us to choose it and check it.
And it's very important for us to pay attention to the kindnesses that are going on in the world.
There was a study out of the British scientists a number of years ago about something they labeled the mean world syndrome where it's very easy to find stories about the mean world and how upsetting the world was.
And so they took a group of people and they had them read news stories every day that were mean and nasty and people not being kind to each other.
And of course those people's moods and energy tanked.
Then they had people just read fun anecdotes that were kind of happy stories short stories and those people was a little bit more.
Then they had a group of people who they they had read stories about human beings being kind to each other every day.
Well those people's mood and energy and light just shot up.
They were happier.
They were more fulfilled.
And these British scientists suggest to us that being willing every day to find examples of happiness helps us manage the mean world syndrome that might be following us at any time.
So choose to be kind.
Choose it.
Check it.
Find it.
Notice it.
Choose to be a living example of it.
It will only benefit us and it will truly benefit our world.
And I close with Aldous Huxley,
The great philosopher who talks about after all of his work and in working with humans and trying to figure it out,
The best advice he could come up with for us was just be kind.
Just be kind.
Thanks for tuning in.
I invite you to just be kind.
