Being Kind

Being Kind

By Marie T. Russell
innerself.ca


As I was reflecting


the other day on love – loving


ourselves, loving our neighbor,


loving the world itself -- it came to


me that with all the "stigma"


attached to the word love,


sometimes we may be at a loss as to


what it means.



Love has been portrayed as sex,


or as martyrdom, or as self-


aggrandizement, or as co-


dependence.



Thus when we speak


of loving ourselves or loving others,


we may be unclear at to exactly


what that means.


A much simpler way, and maybe a


more understandable way, to


express that goal or vision is simply


to say "Be Kind".


Think about it, when we are kind to


someone we are definitely not


unloving -- when we are kind to


ourselves, that is loving ourselves –


when we are kind to the Earth, we


are demonstrating love inaction.


So maybe rather than trying to


practice Love Thy Neighbor As


Thyself, we could better understand


and practice, Be Kind to Your


Neighbor and To Your Self.




Be Kind.


Now we all know what


that means.


Being kind has no


connotations (as love can have) of


sexuality or martyrdom.



Being kind


is simply that -- being kind to


others, being kind to ourselves.

For


me, it just made Loving Myself and


Loving My Neighbor a whole lot


simpler.


I just have to "be kind" to


myself, to "be kind" to my


neighbor.


I focus on having kind


thoughts, kind motives, kind


actions.




Random Acts of Kindness


You may remember some years


back a movement had started


having to do with Practicing


Random Acts of Kindness.


This involved such things as putting


money into parking meters when


you saw they were about to expire –


- even if you had no idea whose car


it was that you saving from a


parking ticket.


It also involved


paying for the person behind you


when you got to the toll booth.


It had to do with being kind to


people


without expecting any reward or


thanks. Being kind to strangers.


Being kind just to be kind -- not


because someone expected it of you,


or because you felt guilty.


It was


simply an act of love - unselfish,


unwarranted, unexpected.



We all certainly can use more


kindness in our lives.


When we eat


foods that we know are harmful to


our health and well-being, are we


being kind to our body, to


ourselves? When we insult



someone, or hold a grudge and


seethe with resentment, are we


being kind -- either to ourselves or


to them? After all, holding on to


anger raises our blood pressure and


creates havoc in our own body –


never mind the effect on the peace


and harmony in the room.




Am I Being Kind?


The question to ask ourselves as we


go about our day is "Am I Being


Kind?" The other day, as I sat with


a friend, I started teasing her about


something.


As I did so, all of a


sudden I realized that I wasn't


being kind. Oops.


Now, my goal is


to remember, before I respond with


anger or impatience, or even


teasingly, to ask myself "Am I


being kind?" I find that a lot of


things that I "normally" thought


were fine (even jokes about our


government officials) are not kind.


So I rephrase my thoughts or words


to be kind -- honest, but kind.




It makes me feel better about


myself when I'm being kind and


I'm sure it makes the people


around me feel better as well.



Here's to all of us -- and the whole


planet -- practicing being kind to


each other.





SaturnsLady