The more we practice kindness, the easier it is. Every thought and action we do fires neurones in our brain. The more these neural pathways are fired, the easier it becomes to activate them. So the more we repeat acts of kindness, the easier it is to do them in the future.
There are many ways to be kind and many opportunities to practice. Perhaps kindness is a value that could add more satisfaction to and strengthen your relationships.
Here are scientifically supported ways we can increase our kindness toward others. There are different ways to practice kindness.
One way to be kind is to open your eyes and be active when you see people in need. Do you notice when people need a helping hand?
Opening your eyes means noticing when others are suffering.
A kind word, a smile, opening a door, or helping carry a heavy load can all be acts of kindness.
Celebrating someone you love, giving honest compliments, sending an email thanking someone, telling someone how s/he is special to you, helping an elderly neighbour with hard work or food, taking a photo of someone and sending it to the person, sharing homemade food, refusing to gossip, and donating old clothing and things you don’t need are all ideas about how to practice kindness.
Kindness is to be openly happy for the other person.
Kindness is also about telling the truth in a gentle way when doing so is helpful to the other person. The courage to give and receive truthful feedback is a key component of growth and flexible thinking.
Kindness includes being kind to yourself.
Do you treat yourself kindly?
Do you speak gently and kindly to yourself and take good care of yourself?
Having good intentions is the first step toward being kinder toward others and building positive relationships with them.
When I go for a walk, I greet everyone I meet in a kind way and their smiles gives me the gift of making someone else’s day a little brighter. People like to feel that someone in their day cares a little about them even though it is only with a smile or greeting.
