Kindness is expressed by the release of love that embraces its givers and receivers. It’s how we naturally feel the suffering of others. Tragedy that affects friends and family and large disasters affecting big parts of humanity and nature bring forth an outpouring of help. Every human whether young and old, rich and poor, feel the similar pain in our hearts that calls us to step forward to help lives in suffering.
Kindness is somehow innate to our nature but this could also be developed by getting realization of our environment and our profound role within it. One way that kindness comes to our lives is through the experience of receiving kindness. Those who express kindness to us become transmitters of kindness in spreading it as a chain-reaction. No more powerful solution exists for the troubles of human mind and spirit than the expression of kindness. Only by experiencing kindness we come to know how to listen to others, recognize others potential and look beyond our self-centered approach.
Our profound relation with nature demands us to return the nature the similar kindness in response. We can show kindness to nature by making mindful decisions such as caring for deserving humanity, caring for the animal kingdom, eating sustainably, picking up litter off the beach, and reducing our use of non-recyclables and non-biodegradables. There are millions of ways we can show kindness every day; be creative!
Here are some ways we can express kindness to nature.
Experience of Genuine Kindness
Kindness means a selfless expression of compassion and care to our Environment therefore it is beyond self-interested politeness, calculated generosity and superficial etiquette. It’s simply being compassionate and caring to nature (including humans) because you know that this is an innate relation and we should reciprocate the nature the same way as it offers us kindness.
One of the indicators of genuine kindness is your full presence in that particular moment by listening with care, and to be genuinely attentive to others. In the modern busy lifestyles it is important to spare some moments of Environment as their valuable share in your life.
In our fast-paced world, where rushing and being busy are seen as virtues; where cutting someone off because you’re too busy, or you need to get somewhere in a hurry, is the norm. This has become norm because we consider life in isolation – not in sharing. If we start planning our days by keeping spare moments as the valuable share of our Environment then this will allow us to listen others with our whole beings and sincerely pay attention to them until they’re done revealing their thoughts and viewpoints.
Express kindness to yourself
Many people make the error of being open to others and closed to themselves. Mostly people give most of their lives in managing the outer forms and hardly any time to listen to themselves. This results in the inability to know ourselves better. Unfortunately, when we are unable to melt down the rock solid within ourselves, our kindness to others is of the deluded and superficial types. Expressing kindness to ourselves allows us to see what causes us pain and conflict, and enables us to embrace our contradictions and inconsistencies. Self-evaluation gives us space to work on things about ourselves that should be worked out. By removing the obstacles within our personalities through self-learning and development we become calm and composed personalities and thereby ready to offer kindness to our Environment.
Experience Kindness by loving nature
Loving animals and caring for pets is kindness in action. The very act of loving an animal and respecting the animal for its own value is an expression of deep kindness. As well, being kind to our Environment that sustains and nurtures us is sensible as well as kind, ensuring that we don’t poison the very elements that assure us a healthy life.
One of the practical ways of experiencing kindness to nature is to adopt or foster a pet. Your kindness will be rewarded by letting another being into your life that will bring you joy and love. Offer to pet-sit for a friend who is going away. Give your friend the reassurance that someone loving and caring will be tending to her/his pet while s/he’s away. Respect the species you’re caring for. Humans don’t “own” animals; rather, we stand in a relationship of being responsible for their well-being and care.
Spare time to explore parts of your immediate environment and the local community. Go for walks in nature alone or in group and assure the Environment that you are its part. Express your compassionate approach about nature to your friends and family to help them revive their own feel of innate relation with nature.
Experience Kindness for your own betterment
A number of studies during the recent years reveal ‘thinking positive’ bestows wonderful psychological health and happiness. Kindness is being compassionate and caring to others which bring great sense of well-being and universal bond that has amazing positive impact on our mental and physical health. Simply, improving ability of being kind to our Environment is in itself an influential and unfailing reward which improves self-confidence and gives joy and happiness.
Being kind is winning a hard battle
There is a general belief that pitiless and egotistical people are the most successful when it comes to their careers. But being prepared to do anything to get ahead does not mean you will succeed in your ambitions. Real success is not achieved by those who are clever or thoughtless, by hard-baked egotists or psychopathic bosses. The true success is achieved by winning others’ hearts which brings joy and sense of accomplishment as reward. In reality, being kind to our Environment (including fellow human beings) is a prerequisite to becoming truly successful and attaining sense of gratification. However, the art of experiencing true kindness to our Environment is learnt with the passage of time and comes as winning the hardest battle of life. Once the art is learnt it becomes the single most important factors when it comes to how successful we will be in our lives.