Kindness is a trait most often forgotten these days, having been relegated to the forgotten realm of virtues that make a person a great person. In our quest for the almighty dollar which we see as bringing with it happiness, we often put a few traits of our personality ‘on-hold’ since we think that those traits may hold us back slightly. The sad truth of the matter is those traits are one of the defining aspects of our personalities , and may infact help us achieve our goals much faster than we think.
Let me start off by telling you what I think kindness is. Kindness is the ability to look at any human being, no matter how young or old, big or small, high class or low, and offer them a kind word, a helping hand, or just a pleasant greeting. Kindness is not turning your back on a person when they need you the most. It goes hand in hand with being a good person.
You may be asking yourself “So how do I know if I’m a kind person?”. Well my dear readers, you’re going to have to do some introspective searching and digging to find that answer. But fear not! for I will guide you! yes!
Ask yourself the following questions, and take note of your gut reaction not your intellectual reaction. I feel that will give you more honest answers.
- What do you think when you see a homeless person sitting on the ground begging for change?
- What do you feel when you see a mother having a hard time controlling her kids and looks like she is really stressed out?
- When someone wrongs you somehow, and when that thing is very small and inconsequential, do you get mad/annoyed or do you just smile and tell them not to worry about it?
- When someone wrongs you in a big way, do you fly off the hinge in rage or do you calmly handle the situation?
Your answers to these questions will give you the answer of whether or not you’re a kind person. Even if you get the answer that you’re not a kind person, don’t worry too much about it. I believe that a person is naturally kind, it’s just that we may go through some experiences in life that cause that personal trait to go hidden within us. It’s not that you’re not a kind person, just that you may not trust people enough to let your kindness out into the world.
You might be asking yourself “pfft, but what do I get out of this!?”, and that’s a normal response, afterall, in your view you are the most important person in the world. Do you ever remember back to when someone was especially helpful towards you? do you remember how it feels? I bet it felt good didn’t it? You also probably remember that person in a high regard. Why wouldn’t you want to give people that feeling? You may gain some friends, gain some opportunities that would never have presented themselves because you never bothered to stop and give a helping hand to that person that will provide you with an opportunity. It will also make you feel good!
Even with all these good things that can come out of it, some people still view kindess as a weakness. They think that if you are a nice person then people will walk all over you and disrespect you. I’m not talking about losing your assertiveness or being a pushover, I’m talking about picking a person up when you could just as easily walk past them or even kick them down further, speaking metaphorically of course.
You have absolutely nothing to lose from trying to bring out this quality of your personality, so why not do it? atleast try it for a few days, take note of how you feel and how the other person reacts, then be your own judge and decide whether you would like to continue on with it. I can guarentee that you will want to keep doing it!
Enjoy, and I hope you gained some insight from this.