Inspiration and Life

How Kindness Can Change Your Life

The gift that keeps on giving

Photo by Adam Nemeroff on Unsplash

Wouldn’t it be great to have a kindness coin? Flip it in the air. When it lands heads up, someone will be kind to you. When it lands tails up, you get to be kind to someone. If only it were that easy to receive and give kindness. Let’s examine the concept of giving and receiving such thoughtfulness and how it can affect your life and the life of others.

Kindness

Fortunately, everyone understands the meaning of kindness. I love its straightforward definition:

kindness (noun) — the quality of being friendly, generous, and considerate. Oxford Languages

We can add to this simple definition the act of genuine kindness is selflessness, expecting nothing in return.

How often has someone been kind to you with no expectation of receiving anything? Does it happen rarely or often? What is its impact on you?

How often have you been kind to someone for no reason other than to be friendly, generous, or considerate? Does it happen rarely or often? Once again, what is its impact on you?

Let’s look at each side of kindness and how it can impact you by further defining it as an act of caring and love. Kindness from the heart that expects nothing in return. Not even a hint of selfishness.

“Kind words do not cost much. They never blister the tongue or lips. They make other people good-natured. They also produce their own image on men’s souls, and a beautiful image it is.” Blaise Pascal (1623–1662)

Heads up — you are shown kindness

If you are like me, you may have to stop and think about acts of kindness others have shown you. I have noticed two kinds of kindness — the type that is unforgettable and the type that takes more thought.

One of the earliest acts of kindness I remember was when I was about seven. We lived in Long Beach at the time. My stepfather had recently married my mother, and part of the package was me, my little brother, and my little sister. With five mouths to feed, to say finances were tight is an understatement. His pay as an enlisted man was so low one…