On the deathbed, Aldous Huxley reflected on his entire life's learning and then summed it up in seven simple words: "Let us be kinder to one another". All too often, we believe that in order to live a truly fulfilling life we must achieve some great act or grand feat that will put us on the front covers of magazines and newspapers. Nothing could be further from the truth. A meaningful life is made up of a series of daily acts of decency and kindness, which ironically, add up to something truly great over the course of a lifetime. Mother Theresa once said, "There are no great acts. There are only small acts done with great love." The irony of being more compassionate is that the very act of giving to others makes you feel better as well. These tiny, daily deposits into the love account will give you far more happiness than any amount of money in your bank account.
Everyone who enters your life has a lesson to teach and a story to tell. Every person you pass during the moments that make up your days represents an opportunity to show a little more of the compassion and courtesy that define your humanity. Why not start being more of the person you truly are during your days and doing what you can to enrich the world around you? If you make even one person smile during your day or brighten the mood of even one stranger, your day has been a worthwhile one. Kindness simply, we pay for the space we occupy on this planet.
Become more creative in the ways you show compassion to strangers. Offering your seat on the subway to someone in need, being the first to say hello and enquiring welfare of lowly people who do thankless jobs like a lift boy or a postman or a sweeper etc, etc, are great places to start.
As Emerson said so eloquently, "With out the rich heart, wealth is an ugly beggar." Or as Tolstoy wrote, "The means to gain happiness is to throw out for oneself like a spider in all directions an adhesive web of love, and to catch in all that comes."
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