KINDNESS

A peek under your cap will give you a glimpse of Kindness.  Kindness.  Compassion.  Generosity.  When you are kind, humankind wins!

Kind, Caring, Nice, Compassionate, Altruistic, Nurturing, and Generous are related ways of describing someone who is unselfishly oriented to others, and who believes others are worthy of being treated this way.  An act of pure kindness is for someone else’s well being, not for one’s own benefit.  A kind act is not done out of duty, but done out of compassion and caring.

Even though true kindness is unselfish and someone who commits a kind act does not do so or expect to receive a benefit, the truth is that kindness has tremendous benefits that you might not expect.  For example, kindness enhances happiness, health, relationships, cooperation, feeling appreciated by others, and having a more positive view oneself and of others.  Kindness facilitates teamwork, and is a strength of character that helps our families and society function.   Recent research has found that committing random acts of kindness enhance happiness, and it is magnified when the acts of kindness are varied.  Performing as few as 3 to 9 different acts of kindness each week bolsters happiness significantly.   Another exciting research finding is that keeping track of and counting the kind acts you do enhances happiness and feelings of gratitude.  For people who are already happy, counting kindness results in even greater happiness and gratitude!  

Kindness is contagious and powerful.  That is, kindness inspires acts of kindness.  So if you are kind to three people, then each of those three people are kind to three people, and those 12 people are kind to three others…well, you can do the math to see how kindness grows exponentially.  The numbers will show you that what your kindness cap says is true.  Kindness is contagious. When you are kind, humankind wins!  Who is the kindest person you know?  Have you told them?  Now, that would certainly be a kind thing to do.

Be kind to yourself!  You can be kind to yourself in many ways.  For example, one thing you can do is keep a journal, and note the kind things you do for others, and the things for which you are grateful.  Count your kind acts, and count your blessings!  

Kindness.  Try it on for size.