Be kind to others and yourself
Being kind and to play nicely with others is something we all learn in the kindergarten. Unfortunately some of us get brazened by the life experiences and overlook it as we grow up.
Kindness is the quality of being gentle, friendly, generous, and considerate.
You can be kind to others in different ways. You can hold a door open for the person behind you, smile at a stranger, lend your elderly neighbor a helping hand.
Small, random acts of kindness bring us happiness that money cannot buy. It may mean letting a car merge ahead of you in traffic jam, holding the elevator door for the stranger who is trying to make a mad dash to the elevator. Let your co-worker save her face when you know she made a mistake.
Give someone a genuine compliment, offer to help your coworker if they need help, offer to take a picture of couple or group that is struggling to take a selfie. You just need to keep your eyes and mind open and you will find several opportunities to be kind to others.
Volunteer; help others, give your time, resources, and money, whatever you can share. These actions bring deep and long-lasting happiness. By being kind to others not only do you help others but you help yourself too. (put link for other kindness blog post)
It is strange but true. Often we are nice and kind to strangers as compared to the people who we are close to. Guess who we are the most critical of? Yes, you guessed it right, ourselves.
Say, a friend comes to you and tells you she did something wrong. Do you say to her “Are you nuts? What were you thinking?”
I guarantee you any good friend would never say such a thing.
When it comes to ourselves we would not hesitate to say something like that or even worse. Often times we are unkind towards ourselves. Why is it that we think it is alright to be so critical of ourselves?
Would you continue to be best friends with someone or spend a lot of time with someone who constantly criticizes you and makes you feel bad? If not, then why do you put up with it when your inner critic raises its head?
If you are anything like an average person, then you are your worst critic. You criticize yourself for something that you did, did not do or do did not do quite right.
You criticize yourself more than anyone else has ever done. You constantly tell yourself, you are not pretty enough, good enough, smart enough.
These types of constant thoughts in your mind sabotage your happiness.
Imagine if your co-worker or best friend did that you day in and day out, would you put up with it?
Then why don’t you do something about it? Yes, you can! The worst part is to think that it is okay, and that is the way it is supposed to be.
You can control your thoughts by being vigilant about thoughts that pop in your mind. Just being aware of your thoughts gives you so much control. You can say to yourself “There you go, you have started criticizing again, and I don’t want to hear any of that so please STOP”
It may sound difficult but like with anything else it gets easier and more habitual, the more you practice it.
Observing your thoughts can be very powerful exercise in getting over the thoughts which bring you pain and unhappiness and take you a step closer to being happy.
One of the steps towards happiness is being kind to others and most importantly to yourself!