The Power of Kindness

How easy it is to become absorbed in our own lives, and focused solely on our own welfare, our own problems. It can seem easier, less complicated, to ignore opportunities to help others. We can quietly assure ourselves that we are doing the best we can given the demands of our own lives, and that someone else who isn't so busy/important/stressed/financially strapped/responsibility-laden can go the extra mile for a friend, relative or stranger in need. In the long run, however, is it really the easiest route to take? In a life you hope will have real meaning, is looking the other way and avoiding lending a hand serving your highest purpose?

I have had several conversations with Dr. Bernie Siegel, author of "Love, Medicine and Miracles, on the importance of helping whoever you can, whenever you can. He and I agree that it "takes a village" to make our world a better place - a place we can, with any measure of comfort, leave to our children. A world where, perhaps in our helping others, we and the people we love will be helped, too.

Kindness wears many faces: a simple smile, an encouraging word, offering a helping hand on a small or magnificent scale - all done with joy, and without thought of our perceived inconvenience or anticipated reciprocation. For the real reward in helping someone in need is the knowledge that you have made their life more bearable and joyful, which on some scale, large or small, makes the world - your "home" - a better place. The next time opportunity knocks, shake off any urge to avoid it: look at its treasure, and open your arms wide to it. Do this as much for yourself as you do for the person who will receive your kindness.