|
Today's
quotation:
The
development of loving kindness is a demanding practice that requires
time. However, see if you can cultivate some part of loving
kindness toward
yourself, other people in your life, and the natural world around you
every day. As we keep practicing, we begin to see beyond what is best for
ourselves, or
for other people, toward what is good for all life that is affected by
our actions. Loving kindness for all life on the earth is the ultimate result of
the deepest understanding of the unity of life.
Claire Thompson
Mindfulness
and the Natural World
|
|
Today's
Meditation:
It's a bit
disillusioning to see someone refer to loving kindness as
a "practice that requires time." There's a
part of me that would like to believe that kindness comes
naturally to people, that it's an instinctive attribute
rather than one that we have to work at in order to
develop. I can see her point, though, for I know
that very often I have to stop and think about what the
kindest thing to do is in a certain situation.
Sometimes I have to force myself to perform the kind
action instead of the one that I might want to do,
especially if someone has just done something negative to
me.
Cultivating
kindness is a good way of putting it. It's there in
us, I'm sure, and it's up to us to work at helping it to
grow by using it in positive ways as much as we can.
We can develop our loving kindness by practicing it and by
keeping our eyes and hearts open to recognize those places
where kindness is needed (and my hunch is that it's needed
in many more places than we suspect). Even if there
isn't a compelling need for it in certain places or
circumstances, it's a sure thing that loving kindness has
positive results no matter when we show it.
More
kindness on this planet would be a wonderful thing, but we
seem to be living in an era when we're seeing less and
less of it each day, unfortunately. And what can we
do about it, if no one else seems to be doing anything
about it? It's really quite simple of course--
though
incredibly frustrating at the same time. What we can
do is be kind, and let go of any expectations of returns
on our kindness-- even expectations of a thank-you.
It's
not easy, but it's simple. Others will try our
patience and our tolerance, but we must still be kind to
them. Others will make us feel that we may be doing
the wrong thing, but we must keep on doing what we know to
be right. And what's right is adding to the positive
energy of this world through our kindness. It may
take some work and effort, but it will be worth it.
|
