Coronavirus is rampant and has changed our everyday life, possibly permanently. As one of the old people prone to this virus, it makes me change many of the carefully nurtured habits. One in particular I find difficult is not being able to go the gym regularly. So I'm substituting with long walks with my Nordic Walking sticks. It gets me out of the house and does at least something for my health.
I have neighbours who are both over 90 and pretty fit, but who is going to go and do the shopping for them? Listening to the radio and reading the news, the most striking thing are the many acts of kindness occurring. Kindness is not what we can expect from governments or companies. They are done by individuals for individuals. That's our nature.
One of the first things I heard, was that many of the teenagers currently not able to go to school, have spontaneously set up voluntary groups to do shopping or help out and look after the kids, etc. I find that rather wonderful. Mostly teenagers are maligned as uncaring, but here is an example of the opposite.
Kindness is such a fundamental aspect of a human being. We like helping others, even more than we like being helped. All the masters of the past have pointed out that kindness - really kind acts, not done for gain - are an essential part of attaining consciousness. Prem Rawat once said that only love can make him cry. That is certainly true for me too. Cruelty and indifference are sadly the norm, so that the small acts of kindness are barely noticed: someone offering a seat on the bus, holding open a door, offering to carry something, giving a hug instead of a lecture, so many small things, which are truly noticeable.
There's a TV programme here in Switzerland, called "Happy Days". In it the focus is on bringing a little bit of sunshine into the lives of some who are in need and thanking others for their efforts of kindness to others. It's very popular, to me unsurprising. I suspect many of us would prefer to bo overloaded with acts of kindness, rather than the plethora of negative stuff we are given as news instead. Kindness is truly newsworthy, especially for the recipients.
Get conscious, get real, be kind and experience joy!
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