Kindness Is Key

So jaded have so many of us become that the kindness of strangers is often an unexpected surprise. And the triggered reactions can be varied. For some it’s a welcome distraction from the challenges of life…a reassurance. For others though it’s a threatening intrusion.

The irony is that we spend our lives looking for someone who cares and yet to find someone who appears to meet that criteria can be confusing. Agendas are not always obvious and motivations can be unclear making them suspect. We have all been hurt by past experiences. Cruelty results in caution and caution is quite rightly about self-care.  But caution, when overblown, can also result in closure, constriction and missed opportunities.

Many people function in the considered and comfortable territory that separates the risk-averse from the reckless. Others bounce from one extreme to the other...and the bruises are obvious.

Kindness embraces three things that are becoming increasingly rare…friendliness, generosity and consideration. All three are precious. All three are possible. And all three should be nurtured.

Little wonder then that as kindness becomes increasingly rare stress levels in the community continue to rise. A recent survey found more than a quarter of all Australians are stressed and anxious. That stress and anxiety has a ripple effect impacting on those around the suffering individual. 

Kindness is essential to mental well-being and a general sense of happiness, fulfillment and direction. It’s incumbent on all of us to be friendlier, more generous and more considerate. It’s important that not only should we applaud kindness when we encounter it but we should practice kindness at every opportunity.

We should start by being kinder to ourselves. Just as we can all be our own worst enemy it’s also possible to be our own best friend.

Kindness is key.