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The Kindness Box
- Thread starter Knight of Albion
- Start date
This reminds me of the following which is to me indirectly about kindness:
This was from a poem written by Kent M. Keith and read to her children by the amazing Hedy Lamarr, actress, inventor, big thinker.
“ The Paradoxical Commandments
People are illogical, unreasonable, and self-centered.
Love them anyway.
If you do good, people will accuse you of selfish ulterior motives.
Do good anyway.
If you are successful, you will win false friends and true enemies.
Succeed anyway.
The good you do today will be forgotten tomorrow.
Do good anyway.
Honesty and frankness make you vulnerable.
Be honest and frank anyway.
The biggest men and women with the biggest ideas can be shot down by the smallest men and women with the smallest minds.
Think big anyway.
People favor underdogs but follow only top dogs.
Fight for a few underdogs anyway.
What you spend years building may be destroyed overnight.
Build anyway.
People really need help but may attack you if you do help them.
Help people anyway.
Give the world the best you have and you’ll get kicked in the teeth.
Give the world the best you have anyway.”
Geoff-Allen
Resident megalomaniac
Be kind to others. An infectious disease is not connected to any racial or ethnic group, so speak up if you hear negative stereotypes that only promote prejudice. With the right outlook and intentions, we can all ensure that kindness and charity spread throughout our communities even faster than this virus.
Coronavirus Anxiety: Coping with Stress, Fear, and Worry - HelpGuide.org
Coronavirus Anxiety: Coping with Stress, Fear, and Worry - HelpGuide.org
Geoff-Allen
Resident megalomaniac
It’s easy to feel powerless in the face of COVID-19, but you can make a difference. Here are some ways to help and give back.
The easiest way to give back is by reaching out to the people you know. Neighbors, friends, co-workers, and relatives can all benefit from a friendly text or video call. It may seem like a small gesture, but don’t underestimate the positive impact of checking up on someone. Start with those who might feel vulnerable right now. This could be your elderly neighbor who is cut off from their social connections or your friend who suffers from anxiety and depression. Providing a touchstone for someone during this time is one of the best ways to be of service. And it will help ease your own anxieties as well and give you an emotional boost.
More suggestions here -
Coronavirus: How to Help and Give Back - HelpGuide.org
All the best!
The easiest way to give back is by reaching out to the people you know. Neighbors, friends, co-workers, and relatives can all benefit from a friendly text or video call. It may seem like a small gesture, but don’t underestimate the positive impact of checking up on someone. Start with those who might feel vulnerable right now. This could be your elderly neighbor who is cut off from their social connections or your friend who suffers from anxiety and depression. Providing a touchstone for someone during this time is one of the best ways to be of service. And it will help ease your own anxieties as well and give you an emotional boost.
More suggestions here -
Coronavirus: How to Help and Give Back - HelpGuide.org
All the best!
Geoff-Allen
Resident megalomaniac
Geoff-Allen
Resident megalomaniac
With our lives changing by the day and physical distancing measures keeping us in our homes, all this isolation can have a way of making you feel, well, isolated.
But in Sydney's Inner West, a community pantry has popped up on a suburban street corner and become a beacon of care. The concept is simple: take what you need and leave what you can. The offerings have ranged from grocery items to sanitary products, wine bottles and cigarettes to notes of kindness.
This community street pantry has become a beacon of human kindness under isolation
Cheers!
But in Sydney's Inner West, a community pantry has popped up on a suburban street corner and become a beacon of care. The concept is simple: take what you need and leave what you can. The offerings have ranged from grocery items to sanitary products, wine bottles and cigarettes to notes of kindness.
This community street pantry has become a beacon of human kindness under isolation
Cheers!
Geoff-Allen
Resident megalomaniac
Tips for these tough times -
Find ways of expressing kindness, patience, and compassion
Be extra kind to yourself. This is a hard time for everyone. Humans across the world are sharing this experience with you. We are all in this together and we may all emerge with a renewed appreciation for our interconnectedness. Helping others in need is both critical to get through this well, and also creates more purpose to our days and well-being.
Here are general tips and ways to help others right now:
Emotional Well-Being and Coping During COVID-19
All the best!
Find ways of expressing kindness, patience, and compassion
Be extra kind to yourself. This is a hard time for everyone. Humans across the world are sharing this experience with you. We are all in this together and we may all emerge with a renewed appreciation for our interconnectedness. Helping others in need is both critical to get through this well, and also creates more purpose to our days and well-being.
Here are general tips and ways to help others right now:
- Compassion in Action: 15 Easy Ways to Spread Kindness
- 11 Simple Ways to Care for Each Other During the COVID-19 Coronavirus Pandemic
Emotional Well-Being and Coping During COVID-19
All the best!
Geoff-Allen
Resident megalomaniac
More ways to help other people
When Ignatius began to look at where God was truly nudging him, God was nudging him not toward withdrawal but toward engagement. Not toward suspicion but to trust. Not toward an unloving removal from human life but a love of human life.
Gradually what came into Ignatius’ mind was that everything God does comes as a helping presence. Everything that is not from God comes as a destructive presence. So when I move away from love or life, God’s not there. But when I move toward love or life, God is there. Ignatius called this movement discernment of spirits. Discernment was a way of sifting through the movements in his heart.
Gradually what he felt drawn to was this wonderful expression, “to help people.” He didn’t know what it meant in the beginning. He was awkward about what it meant—how he understood it. It took him a number of years of study and trial and error to finally say what most helps people ...
Four Ways of Helping People - IgnatianSpirituality.com
All the best!
When Ignatius began to look at where God was truly nudging him, God was nudging him not toward withdrawal but toward engagement. Not toward suspicion but to trust. Not toward an unloving removal from human life but a love of human life.
Gradually what came into Ignatius’ mind was that everything God does comes as a helping presence. Everything that is not from God comes as a destructive presence. So when I move away from love or life, God’s not there. But when I move toward love or life, God is there. Ignatius called this movement discernment of spirits. Discernment was a way of sifting through the movements in his heart.
Gradually what he felt drawn to was this wonderful expression, “to help people.” He didn’t know what it meant in the beginning. He was awkward about what it meant—how he understood it. It took him a number of years of study and trial and error to finally say what most helps people ...
Four Ways of Helping People - IgnatianSpirituality.com
All the best!
Geoff-Allen
Resident megalomaniac
Geoff-Allen
Resident megalomaniac
If living well is the best revenge, then Cavanaugh Bell may just be having the best life ever.
After facing bullying at school, rather than internalizing the pain or trying to get even, the spirited 7-year-old decided to channel his energy into something positive instead.
“After I was bullied and I felt a darkness inside of me, I knew I didn’t want other kids to feel the same way I felt,” Bell explained via his GoFundMe page. “So, I asked my mom if she could help me spread love and positivity.
And, the more I gave back to my community, the more I wanted to keep doing it.”
Bell lives in Gaithersburg, Maryland with his mom, Llacey Simmons, and their extended family. Even before the bullying incident, the second-grade good samaritan was already doing his part to give back during the COVID-19 pandemic.
GNN: 7-Year-old Boy Who Was Bullied Opens a Huge Food Pantry, Making His Life All About Positive Energy
Load at that site - check-out the downloads page for loads of free stuff -
Downloads Page
After facing bullying at school, rather than internalizing the pain or trying to get even, the spirited 7-year-old decided to channel his energy into something positive instead.
“After I was bullied and I felt a darkness inside of me, I knew I didn’t want other kids to feel the same way I felt,” Bell explained via his GoFundMe page. “So, I asked my mom if she could help me spread love and positivity.
And, the more I gave back to my community, the more I wanted to keep doing it.”
Bell lives in Gaithersburg, Maryland with his mom, Llacey Simmons, and their extended family. Even before the bullying incident, the second-grade good samaritan was already doing his part to give back during the COVID-19 pandemic.
GNN: 7-Year-old Boy Who Was Bullied Opens a Huge Food Pantry, Making His Life All About Positive Energy
Load at that site - check-out the downloads page for loads of free stuff -
Downloads Page
Geoff-Allen
Resident megalomaniac
Found a great "good news" site that I have only just begun to explore - this page is all about kindness -
Reconnection is made possible by embracing kindness and compassion; embracing kindness and compassion happens once we realize that it is essential to our state of being and longevity. And it just feels good.
In case you can’t stay for the entirety of the class, here’s the “secret sauce” of this blog: when we truly understand that we are connected to one another, we give more freely, we treat each other with respect, we act with integrity, and we trust one another. As the socio-biologic need for kindness and connection is fulfilled, health, happiness, meaning, collaboration, and peace readily flow from there.
The Science Behind Why We Need More of the ‘Secret Sauce’ of Kindness
Reconnection is made possible by embracing kindness and compassion; embracing kindness and compassion happens once we realize that it is essential to our state of being and longevity. And it just feels good.
In case you can’t stay for the entirety of the class, here’s the “secret sauce” of this blog: when we truly understand that we are connected to one another, we give more freely, we treat each other with respect, we act with integrity, and we trust one another. As the socio-biologic need for kindness and connection is fulfilled, health, happiness, meaning, collaboration, and peace readily flow from there.
The Science Behind Why We Need More of the ‘Secret Sauce’ of Kindness
Attachments
Geoff-Allen
Resident megalomaniac
After the small town of Paradise, California, was nearly wiped out by wildfires, the local high school girl’s volleyball team was still determined to play their semifinal championship match—despite having no uniforms or equipment after evacuating with only the clothes on their back.
But the opposing team from Forest Lake Christian High School in Auburn was waiting with a big surprise.
Within 24 hours, they had collected donations of $16,000 and when the girls from Paradise Adventist Academy showed up, they were greeted with new custom uniforms, knee pads, and socks—and a whole lot of love.
10 Best Stories When Kindness and Heroics Went Viral in 2018
But the opposing team from Forest Lake Christian High School in Auburn was waiting with a big surprise.
Within 24 hours, they had collected donations of $16,000 and when the girls from Paradise Adventist Academy showed up, they were greeted with new custom uniforms, knee pads, and socks—and a whole lot of love.
10 Best Stories When Kindness and Heroics Went Viral in 2018
Geoff-Allen
Resident megalomaniac
That site is masssssive - over a thousand pages of news and each page has maybe 20 stories ... perfect for anyone who has a LOT of time on their hands!
All News Archives - Good News Network
All News Archives - Good News Network
Geoff-Allen
Resident megalomaniac
Kindness gets a mention in this list of suggestions -
While spending money on someone else can make you happy, just being kind in general can help too. A 2018 study published in the Journal of Experimental Social Psychology found that simply being nice to others can benefit your well-being, whether it's dishing out compliments or just listening to someone who needs to talk.
50 Happiness Hacks That Are Entirely Backed by Science | Best Life
While spending money on someone else can make you happy, just being kind in general can help too. A 2018 study published in the Journal of Experimental Social Psychology found that simply being nice to others can benefit your well-being, whether it's dishing out compliments or just listening to someone who needs to talk.
50 Happiness Hacks That Are Entirely Backed by Science | Best Life
Geoff-Allen
Resident megalomaniac
More about kindness during the pandemic -
I’ve learned a lot from the thousands of public school students I’ve asked about kindness.
As a researcher at the University of British Columbia, a great deal of my time is spent asking children, adolescents and even university students what it means to be kind and how they demonstrate kindness. Children can be kind in predictable or anticipated ways (for instance, holding a door open for a stranger) but I’ve also learned that they’re kinder than we might think and their kindness takes many forms.
As our society navigates this coronavirus pandemic and we hear with increasing emphasis how important it is to stay home, I reflect on what might be gained by remembering what I came to define as “quiet kindness.”
'Quiet kindness' can bolster well-being during coronavirus pandemic
Cheers!
I’ve learned a lot from the thousands of public school students I’ve asked about kindness.
As a researcher at the University of British Columbia, a great deal of my time is spent asking children, adolescents and even university students what it means to be kind and how they demonstrate kindness. Children can be kind in predictable or anticipated ways (for instance, holding a door open for a stranger) but I’ve also learned that they’re kinder than we might think and their kindness takes many forms.
As our society navigates this coronavirus pandemic and we hear with increasing emphasis how important it is to stay home, I reflect on what might be gained by remembering what I came to define as “quiet kindness.”
'Quiet kindness' can bolster well-being during coronavirus pandemic
Cheers!
Geoff-Allen
Resident megalomaniac
Buddhist response to the virus ...
I found a few - esp this one -
Welcome, welcome, welcome, dear readers, to another Living Metta experiment taking metta off the meditation cushion and out into the world.
Wherever you are in the world just now, chances are you’re experiencing emotional turbulence, be it your own or others’. Some days, I secretly wonder whether we’ve all become Jiffy Pop pans of personal and collective sankharas overnight.
Metta Waits for Change | Buddhistdoor
Looks a huge site if you scroll down a bit ...
All the best!
I found a few - esp this one -
Welcome, welcome, welcome, dear readers, to another Living Metta experiment taking metta off the meditation cushion and out into the world.
Wherever you are in the world just now, chances are you’re experiencing emotional turbulence, be it your own or others’. Some days, I secretly wonder whether we’ve all become Jiffy Pop pans of personal and collective sankharas overnight.
Metta Waits for Change | Buddhistdoor
Looks a huge site if you scroll down a bit ...
All the best!
Geoff-Allen
Resident megalomaniac
At that same site -
Welcome back to the Living Metta laboratory of life, taking metta off the meditation cushion and out into the world.
Some backstory before we launch into this month’s experiment: A few years ago, a friend and I were comparing notes on how much of our lives we spent waiting for (fill in your favorite attachment here) to “happen” and how mean we could be to ourselves in the meantime. We jokingly coined the term “kindtime” as a reminder that when we didn’t know what was next it was time to be kinder—not meaner—to ourselves while waiting.
By now, most of you will have experienced some form of quarantine measures, depending on where you are in the world. At the time of writing this, I’m entering week six of sheltering in place alone in Liverpool. The days leading up to the UK’s official lockdown on 23 March were chaotic to say the least, with all sorts of conflicting reports and advice and responses swirling around. It was impossible for anyone to know what to think or whom to trust or what to do then (or now).
Metta in the Kindtime | Buddhistdoor
Enjoy your day!
Welcome back to the Living Metta laboratory of life, taking metta off the meditation cushion and out into the world.
Some backstory before we launch into this month’s experiment: A few years ago, a friend and I were comparing notes on how much of our lives we spent waiting for (fill in your favorite attachment here) to “happen” and how mean we could be to ourselves in the meantime. We jokingly coined the term “kindtime” as a reminder that when we didn’t know what was next it was time to be kinder—not meaner—to ourselves while waiting.
By now, most of you will have experienced some form of quarantine measures, depending on where you are in the world. At the time of writing this, I’m entering week six of sheltering in place alone in Liverpool. The days leading up to the UK’s official lockdown on 23 March were chaotic to say the least, with all sorts of conflicting reports and advice and responses swirling around. It was impossible for anyone to know what to think or whom to trust or what to do then (or now).
Metta in the Kindtime | Buddhistdoor
Enjoy your day!
Geoff-Allen
Resident megalomaniac
More than simply repeating phrases though, Metta is an attitude. It’s a way of inviting, cultivating and sharing kind and warm attention. As such, it’s boundless. Like compassion, from a Buddhist perspective it’s not contingent upon deservingness or a sense of worth. Rather it’s about attuning into and harnessing an innate human capacity to be friendly and loving. When we steep ourselves in such an attitude, we feel more connected to sweetness in ourselves and to the compassionate presence within others. Responding from this quality of connectivity tends to lend itself to healthy choices, wise responses and greater happiness.
Below is a Metta practice adapted from the classic version to help ground oneself in this attitude.
Loving-Kindness as an Attitude - Portland Mindfulness Meditaiton
Cheers!
Below is a Metta practice adapted from the classic version to help ground oneself in this attitude.
Loving-Kindness as an Attitude - Portland Mindfulness Meditaiton
Cheers!
Geoff-Allen
Resident megalomaniac
Tara Brach has a site and this advice comes from her pdf -
Remember Kindness
If you encounter difficult emotions such as fear, confusion, sadness or hurt, offer yourself kindness. You might put a hand gently over your heart and send a message of care to the vulnerable place inside you. Mindfulness and heartfulness are inseparable: the more you bring these qualities to your inner life, the more they will enrich your relationships and ripple out into our world.
https://www.tarabrach.com/wp-content/uploads/pdf/Eight-Essential-Tips.pdf
Remember Kindness
If you encounter difficult emotions such as fear, confusion, sadness or hurt, offer yourself kindness. You might put a hand gently over your heart and send a message of care to the vulnerable place inside you. Mindfulness and heartfulness are inseparable: the more you bring these qualities to your inner life, the more they will enrich your relationships and ripple out into our world.
https://www.tarabrach.com/wp-content/uploads/pdf/Eight-Essential-Tips.pdf
Geoff-Allen
Resident megalomaniac
Kindness humanity pandemic - a few? -
Alex Bernard dedicated his life to ministering to people who were suffering. As a pastor at Desert Reign Church in Downey, he organized food delivery programs, mentored young people and worked as a substance abuse counselor. He also volunteered as a chaplain at the same hospital where he would eventually die of COVID-19.
“His whole life was serving other people,” said his wife, Blanca.
From the staggering toll of the pandemic, a shared story of human kindness emerges
Alex Bernard dedicated his life to ministering to people who were suffering. As a pastor at Desert Reign Church in Downey, he organized food delivery programs, mentored young people and worked as a substance abuse counselor. He also volunteered as a chaplain at the same hospital where he would eventually die of COVID-19.
“His whole life was serving other people,” said his wife, Blanca.
From the staggering toll of the pandemic, a shared story of human kindness emerges