Kindness

​Ever stand at the shore and throw a pebble into the water? See how the ripples get bigger and bigger and wider and wider until the circumference of them becomes larger than what we can actually see? This is how kindness works in the world. And if you stay at the edge of the water, just a little longer, sometimes you see, one by one, the ripples returning to the spot where the pebble was cast. That is kindness echoing back, but this is not why we do it.  
 
Whatever stories we have about our life, whatever our life experiences, I am certain, there is one which was difficult to go through. I’m talking about the kind of experience that stops us in our tracks, forever changes things and makes us re-evaluate what we believed before. It happens at one point or another to all of us.  Although difficult, times like these can transform us as they can be an opportunity for growth and reflection.  Out of our own struggles, we learn kindness and compassion. From the depth of our pain, we find the voice of tenderness within. When we understand that everyone shares this, that no one is exempt from the ebb and flow of life, we know we are not alone. Ultimately, from our own experience with suffering, we are motivated to reach out and ease the suffering of another.  
 
It is not just in difficult times that this is important. Kindness creates a better world each day. We just don’t know how far one kind gesture will go.That’s pretty cool when you think about it... When we choose to act out of our common bond we share as humans, we realize that what we do for another we are really doing for the planet, for the children, for humanity.  ​

And if we are lucky, sometimes there is a friend or maybe a stranger offering a little bit of kindness.  Take it, smile at them, hold it, and pass it on. Sometimes, a little bit is all we need.