Learning to Be!
Although kindness is encouraged by every major religion and is recognized as a value in many cultures, sometimes it’s reeeally hard to be kind. We all know it. In fact, at some points in our life, it feels easier to be unkind – especially when we’re not in a great place and we feel like the world is working against us. If our self-esteem is a bit shaky, or if we want to be perceived as strong by others, then sometimes we act unkindly towards people.
But – underneath – we are all vulnerable.
Road Rage. Bullying. Bad customer service. Mudslinging politics. The economy. The price of gasoline…and on and on. The litany of what can make us angry, irritated, exhausted and disheartened seems endless, reinforced from an endless media stream that bombards us from the television, radio, internet and more. I’m sure that each of us can easily come up with a list of the top 5-10 things that lean on us in a negative way.
What I propose, instead, is that we change our focus, intentionally, on things that lift–and here’s the catch–not us, but others.