Day 7: Kindness Revisited

Welcome to 40 Days of Mindfulness and Compassion Day 7!

 

Lecture

From this perspective, kindness is not something sappy or trite. When expressed and experienced in its purest forms, kindness is an expression of our deep interconnectedness with others. At our core, we are social beings, and kindness is a pristine expression of this social nature.

We can train in kindness, but what we are really training in is  the ability to bring mindfulness to something that already exists in us, and to nourish it and allow it to flourish. We train ourselves to uncover, to strengthen and to expand. We uncover our basic kindness, we strengthen it through practices (just as we strengthen our body through exercise), and we expand it to include wider circles of others if we so desire.

Often, this most basic innate kind nature can be accessed quite readily. Here is a quick thought experiment. After closing your eyes for minute or so and just breathing bring to mind someone who is dear to you, someone that naturally brings a smile to your face. Imagine that this person is there in front of you, that you are in her or his presence. Now, just be in the presence of this person while gently bringing attention to your mental and bodily experiences as you do so. You may want to pay specific attention to physical sensations such a tingly feelings or warmth. Then, take a final minute to just breath and then transition back to daily life.

A short exercise such as this can be a quite powerful way of accessing innate pro-social states quickly. One thing we do in heart based contemplative practices is enhance these innate pro-social states through understanding and repetition. We are training ourselves to be able to bring such states to the surface more readily, to enhance them if desired.

Today will be another short practice on kindness.

 

Meditation Tips

Meditation Tip #9: Push yourself, but at the same time be very gentle and easy on yourself. Set your ship on its desired course, and give it just enough wind, but then get out of the way. When we endeavor to do something, we are often tightly wound. This is counterproductive. Cultivate discipline with a lot of relaxation and kindness in it.

 

Meditation

Kindness for Self

 

 Self-Reflective Activity 

Keep a notebook or a small piece of paper with you throughout the day. Note times throughout the day when you observe kindness or are a recipient of kindness.

 

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