The Power of Kindness and Practicing it at Home

Can you imagine a world where all of us are kind to each other? What else would we need? Money? No. The ones who have, will give the ones who don’t. Happiness? The ones who are happy will never let others be sad. Good Health? The healthy will help the unhealthy. If this is the power of kindness, then why is it so underrated? Why isn’t it taught in schools and universities? I believe that Kindness is the most valuable skillset a human needs. Let me tell you why.

A few years back, a friend dropped off a newly joined colleague and me at a junction after work. It was a familiar place for the new guy, as his house was nearby, but I had to take a bus home. The new guy, whom I had recently met, started walking with me. In spite of assuring him that I could find my way, he insisted on showing me to the bus stop, ensured that I got onto the right bus, and then walked back to his home which was in the exact opposite direction. We weren’t even good friends, and he didn’t have to do that. But he did. After 6 years, we are still friends and it is because of this one act of kindness. I have always been attracted to people who are effortlessly kind. The power of kindness is that you’ll never NEVER forget someone who was kind to you and the impact of it will make you kind in a similar situation. This is what makes Kindness the most valuable skillset.

The Power of Kindness and Practicing it at Home

Would you call yourself a kind person? I am not referring to helping out in orphanages or donating a thousand rupees to charity. I am referring to being kind in your day to day, mundane activities.

When someone in your family prepares food, do you appreciate them? Do you tell them that you loved the flavour, that it has been cooked to perfection? What is better than one appreciation? Two! The ones who are stingy with appreciation, do you repeatedly appreciate the people you love? There is nothing wrong in saying the same thing twice or more as long as it is good. I am starting with something this mundane because we need to understand that kindness begins at home; with the people close to us.

How can we Practice Kindness at/from Home and make that gradually reflect everywhere in our lives?

My sister and I are home due to the pandemic and I have been seeing Amma struggle with her work and the chores at home. I do help her whenever I can, but after I changed my jobs, I sometimes work till 10 PM and I barely take any breaks due to the sheer volume of work and the learning curve. My father has been taking care of a lot of chores and he has been trying his hands at cooking as well. But since Amma is more experienced in the kitchen, she has had to come home and prepare dinner.

This was bothering me a lot and we changed things since last week. We decided to take turns to prepare dinner which meant that dinner for 4 nights were sorted. On the 5th night, we’d order in and this will cover the weekdays. We could always help out during the weekends. We tried this out for a week and I felt at peace. Amma could relax on 4 out of 5 days after work. I am extremely grateful that we as a family realized this and acted accordingly. To understand that one person is doing all the heavy lifting, and consciously trying to avoid his/her pain is kindness.

There are many seemingly insignificant moments at home where we can practice kindness. We know that our grandmother doesn’t like eating alone. So whenever we see her having her meals alone, we go sit next to her and talk. When she sings ‘Uttara swayamvaram…’ I know that she’s missing her brother and so I go spend some time with her. When my sister feels a bit under the weather, I get her some green tea and annoy her. If you observe carefully, you’ll see that you can always do something to make people’s days better or lives easier without much of an effort. And that is kindness! The more we practice it at home, the more we’ll learn to practice it outside. After all, what is the point of donating thousands to charity when your own mother is struggling everyday with problems you can easily resolve?

Does this post remind you of someone at home who could use some kindness? What are some other ways we could practice kindness at home? Let me know in the comments. If you like my post, please share it with your friends. That is kindness too 😛

Did you know that a lot of your innate kindness got quashed by the behaviour of your family and friends in your childhood? My next post will be on this and to get it delivered to your mail, subscribe to my blog. : )

Let’s Spread A Few Handpicked Kindness

Image Courtesy: Clay Banks on Unsplash

Featured Image by Adam Niklewicz