Thought for the Week = just be a little kinder

The Dalai Lama claims that his religion is kindness. And he goes on to say that, ‘on a simple, practical level, kindness creates a sense of warmth and openness that allows us to communicate much more easily with other people’.

 Kindness can seem a little soft and old-fashioned today – something for a gentler, less hurried age – a time less caught up with efficiency and maximising profit.

The truth is that kindness is one of the most powerful, transformational forces we have and can solve many  problems. It has no downside -and  it costs nothing – it is not age or class specific….we can all do it…

And we need to exercise our kindness not just to others but to ourselves too- Shakespeare tell us..’Self love  is not so great a sin as self neglect’.   And also to other creatures living on our planet..

Let us try this week to be just a little kinder to ourselves and to one another and make our world a warmer, nicer place to live.

Aldous Huxley, the English author and philosopher, spent his life working on how to develop human potential – he tried yoga, meditation techniques, dance, taking drugs of all sorts, hypnotic trance and Zen.

In one of the last lectures he gave towards the end of his life he was asked, what was the most effective technique for transforming life.   “It is a little embarrassing” he said, that after years and years of research and experimentation, I have to say that the best answer is  – “just be a little kinder.”