Brilliant Positive Thinking (Brilliant Lifeskills) by Sue Hadfield

Author:Sue Hadfield [Hadfield, Sue]
Language: eng
Format: mobi, pdf
Published: 0101-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

and cold in the winter. It’s

round and wet and crowded.

At the outside, babies, you’ve

got about a hundred years

here. There’s only one rule

that I know of, babies – God

damn it, you’ve got to be

kind.

Kurt Vonnegut, God Bless

You, Mr Rosewater

The natural response when you hear

that people have suffered misfortune

is to want to give, or to want to help

– or, in other words, to be kind.

During the heavy snow in the winter

of 2010, people reacted as they

always do in an emergency and

helped each other out. There were

stories in the newspapers of

complete strangers clearing snow to

help a bride receive her wedding

dress; of a farmer who used his

tractor to drive midwives to and

from hospital; of a Methodist church

hall in South Yorkshire that put up

drivers who had been stuck all night

in their cars.

According to a study of 34 countries

by the Organisation for Economic

Co-operation and Development

(OECD, 2011), Britain is near the

top of a ‘kindness’ league table (but

behind America, Ireland, Australia

and New Zealand). People were

asked about their ‘pro-social

behaviour’: if they had given money

to a charity or helped a stranger or

volunteered in the previous month.

The report ‘Society at a Glance’

suggests that Britons are more

willing to help others, more

generous and kinder than most other

developed countries in the world

(www.oecd.org).

The media directs our attention

towards contributing money to

humanitarian aid. But we can also

use this altruism in our everyday

lives. It is, of course, wonderful if

you can spare the time or the money

to give to good causes. But you

don’t have to wait for a disaster or

extreme weather conditions to

exercise kindness. Being kind on a

more personal level can have just

as much impact on individual lives.

If you aim to do small acts of

kindness every day, it doesn’t stop

you still giving when disasters

happen. But it will make you feel as

if you are doing something good

with your life in a more enduring

way.

When you feel positive about

yourself, then you are much more

likely to be kind and generous

towards other people. Being kind to

other people in small ways is

always appreciated and rarely

forgotten: a small gift when

someone has had bad news; doing a

favour for someone at work;

offering to help out with a friend’s

decorating; mowing your elderly

neighbour’s lawn; or doing the

chores for your flatmate when it’s

not your turn.

Positive people are aware of other

people’s needs and feelings.

Remember: it costs you nothing to

give a compliment, but if it is

genuine it can make someone’s day.

Similarly, it shows generosity to

praise someone’s work or to thank

them for work well done. And

doing so improves relationships and

creates good humour. We often have

impulses to do good deeds, but fail

to carry them out. Next time a kind

thought crosses your mind, why not

do something about it? What harm

can it do?

In this way, a prevailing mood of

selfishness, or meanness, at home or

at work, can be changed into a

general feeling of helpfulness and

generosity. Acts of kindness spread

outwards and permeate the

atmosphere and it takes only one

person to begin the process. Being

considerate and kind to others in

your daily life is one way to

alleviate that hopeless feeling that

you sometimes get when you hear

the news. Making kindness routine

rather than an occasional gesture is

the way to make you feel more

positive about yourself and your

relationship with the rest of the

world.

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