The Secret to Having a Meaningful Life of Lasting Happiness, Peaceful Mind and Loving Heart
If everyone understood and practiced this secret every day, the power of love, caring and kindness would transform our lives and save the world,
Photo Credit: Dawa Fitzmaurice
I had a friend once who became very depressed after a series of tough life experiences, from being dumped by his girl friend, losing his job, wrecking his car and having a big nasty fight with his Mom.
These blows, coming one after another, threw him into feeling completely lost and hopeless. He went from thinking he had his dream life to believing he had lost everything that mattered to him, and his suffering became unbearable.
He felt no one in the world cared about him or ever would again.
One day, after being rejected at several places where he had applied for work, he decided to go home and end his pain by putting a gun in his mouth and pulling the trigger.
To get back to his Mom’s house where he lived, he had to take a city bus that made many stops along the way to drop off and pick up passengers.
As he sat slumped in a window seat, the bus came to one of its stops.
My friend happened to look out the window and was startled to see a little old lady gazing at him.
As their eyes met, her wrinkled face was suddenly lit up by a big radiant smile, as if she was absolutely delighted to see him. My friend could not help but smile back at her.
In an instant, a spark of caring, loving energy jumped between them, brightening both their smiling faces. As the bus pulled away, the little old lady waved goodbye to him.
With this sudden unexpected exchange of love, my friend suddenly was lifted out of the spell of despair.
As the bus drove him toward home, he realized that he did want to live and that in spite of everything, he could and was determined to turn his life around.
The first thing he wanted to do what apologize to his Mom and set thing things right between them. His life was saved by a sweet stranger’s smile.
Photo Credit: Chinmayan
“The simplest acts of kindness are by far more powerful than a thousand heads bowing in prayer.” —Gandhi
“Do your little bit of good where you are—it’s these little bits of good put together that overwhelm and change the world.” —Desmond Tutu
I share this story to illustrate how the power of even a small act of kindness can transform our life.
Kindness is defined in the dictionary as “the quality of being gentle, caring and helpful…of doing something good for others without expecting anything in return…of helping others out of caring and compassion instead of seeking personal reward.”
Kindness is one of the easiest, sweetest and most rewarding spiritual practices.
Being kind and considerate is something we can all easily do.
Kindness has a profound effect on the person receiving it, the one doing the kindness and the world at large,
“Practice kindness all day to everybody and you will realize you’re already in heaven now. —Jack Kerouac
“Kindness is the light that dissolves all walls between souls, families and
Nations.” —Yogananda
Acts of kindness always work for the good of everyone touched by them.
The secret at the heart of kindness is this—
Every act of kindness, every expression of love and caring you do, sends waves of compassionate energy out into the universe which influences others to be kind in a ripple effect which always comes back to you as goodness and love multiplied.
If you are depressed, sad, lonely, heart broken, grief stricken or stuck in any other low state…
The quickest, surest, most powerful way to become free of suffering, happy and peaceful is to go out and start practicing kindness towards others, especially those who are in circumstances of great need.
Photo Credit: Chinmayn
The world needs as many of us as possible to consciously chose to practice being kind at every opportunity.
“No act of kindness, however small, is ever wasted.” —Aesop
“To ease another’s heartache is to forget one’s own.” —Abraham Lincoln
The only way humanity can be saved from all the threats to our continuing existence on this beautiful planet is for all of us to realize we must take care of each other for the good of all.
The one thing all living beings want and need is real compassionate love…and kindness is love in action.
Photo Credit: Still Mountain Meditation Center