How we treat the most vulnerable among us tells us much about ourselves. Offering our compassion and kindness to all creatures makes our world better.
“Love and kindness are never wasted. They always make a difference.
They bless the one who receives them, and they bless you, the giver (Barbara De Angelis).
When we offer a kindness to another, no matter how small, we make the world a bit better. We make the world a bit more kinder. We make a difference, even if it is only a small one,
“The key is to keep company only with people who uplift you, whose presence calls forth your best (Epictetus).”
We become like the people we associate with. If we associate with perssimists and angry people, we’ll become like them. If we associate with people who refuse to quit and who believe they will make a difference we’ll become like them. Choose friends and associates carefully.
“Wherever there is a human being, there is an opportunity for a kindness (Seneca).”
Kindness can happen wherever we find ourselves at any moment. It can happen with the person next to us. It can happen with a neighbor or a co-worker. It can happen with a stranger. All it takes is our being aware there is someone other than us in our proximity and to offer a kindness to them.
Act as though you are a friend who needs you. It’s so easy for us to be kind and supportive to the people we care about, but we often forget we need to show up for ourselves too. If a friend was dealing with a stressful situation or was feeling down, how would you respond to them? Now flip the script. What if you were in their shoes? Try doing for yourself what you would do for them. Whether it’s giving self-affirmations to validate your good qualities or buying yourself a thoughtful gift, be a friend to your inner self, too.
Improve your Quality of Life: If you’ve ever moved away from your social “home base” then you probably understand the degree to which social connections shape your everyday life and well-being. One study showed that a lack of social connection is a greater determinant to health than obesity, smoking, and high blood pressure. Social connection doesn’t necessarily mean physically being present with people in a literal sense, but someone’s subjective experience of feeling understood and connected to others. One scale that experts use to determine a person’s subjective level of loneliness is the UCLA Loneliness Scale.
Boost your Mental Health: Friendships offer a number of mental health benefits, such as increased feelings of belonging, purpose, and confidence, amplified levels of happiness, reduced levels of stress, and improved self-worth. A study conducted at a free health clinic in Buffalo, New York found that respondents with insufficient perceived social support were the most likely to suffer from mental health disorders like anxiety and depression.
Help you Live Longer: Research has shown that social connections not only impact your mental health, but your physical well-being as well. A review of 148 studies (308,849 participants) indicated that the individuals with stronger social relationships had a 50% increased likelihood of survival. This remained true across a number of factors, including age, sex, initial health status, and cause of death.
Decrease your Risk of Suicide: There are a variety of factors that can either increase or decrease your risk for suicide. Boost your chances of staying safe by raising your level of connectedness, which the Center for Disease Control (CDC) defines as “The degree to which a person or group is socially close, interrelated or shares resources with other persons or groups.” Relationships can play a crucial role in protecting a person against suicidal thoughts and behaviors.
Small acts of kindness can have enormous power for both the person being kind and the recipient, whether that’s a stranger or someone in the same family. Many studies have found that kindness, compassion and giving are associated with:
Research also shows that the happiness people get from giving to others creates a ‘positive feedback loop’. The more you give, the more positive you feel. This, in turn, fuels greater happiness.
People who witness or benefit from someone’s kindness and compassion are also more likely to be kind themselves.
While it may seem easier to be kind to the people we know, we also carry the ability to show kindness to someone new. We never know what others are dealing with and our generosity, support, or small act of kindness may go a long way.
Kindness doesn’t always have to include dramatic gestures of care. Simply being polite, using a warm tone, giving a smile, or showing patience or gratitude to a stranger can be enough.
Some ideas:
Life is a Journey
Rabbi Alvin I. Fine
Birth is a beginning
and death a destination
And life is a journey:
From childhood to maturity
and youth to age;
From innocence to awareness
and ignorance to knowing;
From foolishness to desecration
and then perhaps to wisdom.
From weakness to strength or
from strength to weakness
and often back again;
From health to sickness
and we pray to health again.
From offense to forgiveness
from loneliness to love
from joy to gratitude
from pain to compassion
from grief to understanding
from fear to faith.
From defeat to defeat to defeat
until looking backwards or ahead
We see that victory lies not
at some high point along the way
but in having made the journey
step by step
a sacred pilgrimage.
Birth is a beginning
and death a destination
And life is a journey;
A sacred journey to life everlasting
