You’ll Never Go Wrong with Kindness

Joy Karren M. Dumale

You’ll never go wrong with kindness by Joy Karren M. Dumale “Kindness never goes out of style” is a famous phrase expressing kindness that will never get faded with time. A small act of kindness can be simple yet impactful. According to Haesung Jung, kindness is like a contagious disease, kindness can spread from person to another resulting in a beautiful outcome. It is easy to execute and with just a minimal effort a person can transform one’s life. It has been said that every act of kindness is another ticket to heaven, a well-known phrase used by people to recognize kindness to empower doing good deeds. Extending generosity is not always about money or tokens but letting people experience genuine kindness that can put a smile on their faces, make their hearts happy, and enlighten souls, using words of wisdom, conversation, or just a presence of a friend that can also mean generosity.

Kindness must be shown anytime and anywhere. This can be done by being polite, offering emotional support, and sometimes helping with financials. Kindness is a selfless act. According to Abby Rolland, many people today become philanthropists, sharing not only their wealth but also sharing some words to live by. Engaging themselves in many advocacies to voice out their thoughts on a certain matter and the voices of the people can help spread kindness. They make themselves the instruments of change. They are the heroes of the unknown. They consider others’ feelings and understand people and treat them with respect. They are compassionate with others. They care not only about their opinions but also the thoughts of the majority. People having this image became a model to look up to. In a personally significant way, this can replicate or recreate the same way, for an instance, in a small place or just to a small group of people, a person can make a change, a person can transform people, and anyone can be a hero, too. Dealing with a place that is full of conflicts, a person who will set the mood to a lighter vibe helps to lessen the tensions and can change someone’s perception of the conflicts they are dealing with or helps them to look into the positive side of life.

According to Joe Van Deuren, compassion and empathy go hand in hand. Compassion is the ability to take in perspective and feel the emotions of another person and consider those feelings to help them out in the struggles they might experience at the moment. Acknowledging their pain and where it is coming from and connecting with someone’s struggle or pain will help them feel supported and understood. Empathy is less about what a person says and more about how a person listens and shows up a person’s interest and eagerness to help. People conflicting with their emotions and thoughts and having some difficult times really just want to be heard. They want validation that they are going through difficult times. Going through this phase can be extremely isolating and lonely that is why people share their struggles because they are longing for connection. They want someone to show interest in their story and lend ears to listen and understand how they are feeling. Encouragement and support are very vital at this stage. Even if their intentions are good, sometimes approaches or timing are not right and are rarely helpful to a person. Being mindful on how to approach it and always taking into consideration to prioritize how this person will feel during his or her tough time is essential to not put a person to feel like his or her emotions are invalidated and unconsidered. Instead of trying to say that things will get better because some people are not ready to hear it, it is better to express support and encouragement by citing how might personally solve it, and how personally would do it.

The authenticity of kindness makes people feel good and gives others hope. Kindness can deepen a person’s appreciation of what already a person has and what more a person can give to others. Kindness can lift behavior and help grow other people, too. This fuels a loop of an act of kindness. It has an enormous power to set a positive outcome or feedback and vibe to repeat the goods that have been shared. It will pass to one another and set a positive environment. This can improve relationships and reduce anxiety and depression. It is always good to spread kindness.

Reference: https://blog.philanthropy.iupui.edu/2017/11/20/kindness-is-wherephilanthropy-begins/ https://greatergood.berkeley.edu/article/item/how_kindness_spreads_in_a_co mmunity https://balancedlifeskills.com/2014/04/22/kindness-empathy-go-hand-inhand/