image by Kıvılcım Güngörün
everyone struggles. everyone has experienced [or are currently experiencing] their own “personal hell”, a difficult heartbreak, a tragic loss of a loved one; basically what I am saying is, everyone has endured pain at least once in their lives. knowing this, not everyday is going to be ‘kittens, rainbows, and glitter’ where people are going to automatically be kind and happy everywhere they go. I have learned that while we cannot change our environment [i.e. what goes on outside of us] what we can change is how we react to such circumstances.
case in point: when someone accidently bumps into you on the subway without apologizing, honks incessantly on the road behind you, or perhaps even says something in a hurtful way…choose to respond from a place of empathy and kindness. why? because…
kindness always seems to dissolve rudeness.
a genuine smile makes others so happy that they cant help but smile back.
a helping hand has a way of inspiring others to reciprocate and unknowingly “pay-it-forward”.
…makes sense, right?
so the next time you get confronted with a less than pleasant experience…you know what to do. you know, kill them with kindness.
