Kindness is its own reward.

Kindness is its own reward. Kindness is a gift to yourself. Each act of kindness makes you the giver, kinder, and lightens you up. So, not only do you create a ripple effect of goodness and kindness in the world, it has not only an outside effect but it has an equal inner effect.

That is what many tend to forget: Someone who is going through life in a judgemental, aggressive, rude way, is wearing a mask, a mask which hides pain, which hides disconnection from him/herself. So there is nothing powerful about rudeness, arrogance and aggressiveness.?

Kindness on the contrary, is a conscious and powerful choice, reflects a connection and understanding of who you are and it makes you shine your light brighter. Each time we choose kindness in a difficult situation, we break a cycle of negativity, a cycle of upset, anger, aggression.?

Remember that the behaviour of someone towards you, has nothing to do with you; it is an expression of his/her inner state of mind. Once we see that, once we can look beyond the apparent aggressive words, all we can feel is compassion for their suffering, for their ignorance.?

Let me share an example of someone who understood very well the reward of kindness and compassion. It is a very touching story that I read in ‘The Book of Joy’ by HH The Dalai Lama and Desmond Tutu. The Dalai Lama shares a story from a Tibetan monk. He was visited by this monk who spent more than 18 years in a Chinese prison camp. And the Dalai Lama asked him what the hardest part was of being imprisoned unjustly. And the Tibetan monk shared with the Dalai Lama that on a few occasions he really faced some danger. So HH The Dalai Lama asked him, 'What danger? What kind of danger?', thinking he would tell him of Chinese torture. But the Tibetan monk replied, 'Many times I was in danger of losing compassion for the Chinese.'"

And how extraordinary is this? A monk, tortured, unjustly imprisoned for so many years, thinks that his biggest danger is the loss of his compassion. And let me extend that to kindness. The biggest threat to our humanity is the loss of our kindness.?

But, when you start planting seeds of goodness, kindness, compassion, empowerment without worrying whether you will get anything back; you live a simple and fulfilled life.

All we have to do in this lifetime is to share our gifts, our spark, our light and find joy in that process. That attitude of kindness will bring you a fulfilment you could never have imagined.?

Even if there is massive scientific proof that kindness makes people happier, makes employees respect their managers more, makes the givers of kindness more fulfilled humans, raises productivity at work, makes you live longer, ... We don't need that scientific proof, deep in our hearts, we are well aware that Kindness is its own reward.

Much love, Barbara

For more information about my work:?https://www.barbaravercruysse.com/