Let’s talk about the true meaning of kindness.
For years, I thought kindness meant “being nice” and yet I discovered it went much deeper than this.
I only wanted to “be nice” to certain behaviors that I perceived were appropriate.
Once I saw it wasn’t about behavior it was about opening the heart to what drives the behavior my perception radically changed.
As I saw the intelligence behind all behaviors the door to my heart blew open.
I opened the door to unconditional kindness and said YES to life.
Kindness is the main ingredient that awakens in my SafeSeat and throughout the day with myself and my daughter.
The Dalai Lama was once asked in an interview, what his religion was. He announced with a huge grin, to the assembled world press, “my religion is kindness.”
They said no questions followed, because nothing else was needed. I LOVE this.
I’ve been highly aggressive toward myself over the course of my life, towards my looks, my personality, and what I’ve done and not done.
When I recognized there was very little kindness that was coming toward me from myself I made a shift.
In my SafeSeat I surround myself with incredible kindness to the parts of me that I had to repress, or the parts that I learned not to love.
The kinder I am to myself, the kinder I am to my daughter, my dog, my world, others.
As one of my beloved teachers Bruce Tift said: “the more we practice the art of kindness, eventually we become kindness.”
I’m inviting you to offer kindness to yourself, especially when you act out or you mess up.
When you yell or do something that doesn’t feel good, that’s when you need kindness the most.
When your child acts out, that’s when she/he needs kindness the most.
They need to be seen for who they really are and to recognize that they are doing the best they can to communicate their internal distress.
It’s the same for you! When you’re activated, there’s part of your brain that really believes you are in danger.
IInstead of beating yourself up, you can say, oh, sweetheart, what is going on?
Just pause for a moment and see if you can offer yourself deeper and deeper levels of kindness.
As you do this, you will be able to offer more and more kindness to the world.
Listen to podcast Ep. 44 “The Art of Kindness”
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