For a while now, we’ve been trying to make this world a better place. We’re seeking solutions to sustainable environments, we’re fighting for laws that are inclusive and recognise everybody, we’re advocating for representation for everyone on our media platforms; everyone has a voice worth hearing.
Perhaps we could agree that fundamentally what we need is kindness towards one another. That quality of being friendly, generous and considerate that transcends our communities and spills over into our wider societies. At times it seems it is the easiest thing to do, something so intrinsic to our human nature. But our world, especially in 2020, is proof that it can often be the one quality that eludes us, especially when our individual survival is threatened.
Yet, like the saying goes: to give is better than receive is also true of kindness. Writing for Psychology Today, Dr Karyn Hall attests to the effects that kindness has on us. It is an act that not only relieves the receiver, but brings joy to the giver. At times it seems it is the easiest thing to do, something so intrinsic to our human nature. But our world, especially in 2020, is proof that it can often be the one quality that eludes us, especially when our individual survival is threatened.
She goes on to say that kindness is more than just the act of giving up something for someone, it is also being able to do something like genuinely celebrate someone else’s success. It is also finding a way to tell the truth gently when it’s necessary to do so. By the sounds of it, at the core of kindness is love. Often misunderstood as just a feeling, it can be argued that love is the sum of our acts of kindness in many different ways.
Want to know another secret to this loving kindness spreading? We have to be able to be kind to ourselves. Another saying comes to mind: love your neighbour as yourself. This could be interpreted in so many ways, but perhaps consider that one of those interpretations can be: you can only love your neighbour well if you love yourself well. In other words if you think little of yourself, the likelihood of you projecting that onto someone else is high.
What does it all boil down to? The secret to changing the world remains one well within our grasp: let’s flood the world with acts of loving kindness to ourselves and to others.