August 12, 2014   attitude , Dalai Lama , Kindness

Kindess Is My Religion

I love kindness, and like his Holiness, the Dalai Lama, I think of kindness as my religion.  I am not a Christian in the common sense of wor...

I love kindness, and like his Holiness, the Dalai Lama, I think of kindness as my religion.  I am not a Christian in the common sense of word, and I’m not Jewish or Hindu or Muslim, or Pagan.  However, anything in any of those religions that has anything to do with kindness inspires me and I am drawn to learning more about it.  I notice too that if there is unkindness in a religion I’m less inclined to believe it or trust that it is true.  I think this is why I have always been touched by the words of Jesus of Nazareth to his students, instructing them to love one another and advising them them that their treatment of each other would be the telltale sign that they were his followers.  

What do people know about you by observing you?  

If, as I say it is, kindness is so important to me that I call it my religion, will people know that from observing me?  Or, will it be necessary for me to explain it?  

I made a decision a long time ago to consciously act as if kindness is very important.  I leaned that not only is kindness important to me, but it is also my greatest weakness.  Perhaps it seems that way because if I commit an act of unkindness I take it more seriously and feel the disappointment more deeply than most other transgressions.

These days I’m exploring kindness in my attitude.  I’m being mindful of how I handle people and events in my thoughts.  In some ways it is a more challenging practice than being nice with actions and word is.