“Kindness in words creates confidence. Kindness in thinking creates profoundness. Kindness in giving creates love.”
Lao Tzu
I like to think that I am committed to spreading joy in the world. I want everything I do, say and think to result in more happiness. I value kindness and try to let it govern me. Still I notice that some of my duties are difficult. I remember being a music teacher and having to tell an aspiring young pianist that she wasn’t going to be able to participate in a concert because she could not manage the part. I told her with as much kindness as I could and even as I watch the painful disappointment on her face I felt such love for her and noticed that I was powerless to control her experience. Years later I came to realize that it was my attachment to immediate results that made it difficult for me to see the long range effects of giving bad news kindly.
I have been lucky to receive both unkind bad news and kind bad news and now understand the power of giving kindly. It is a sobering thought to understand that I cannot control anyone, but that I can be kind.
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