Want to be happy? Be kind.

A young man was driving too fast and was stopped by a policeman. “I am happy to pay the fine you demand but I am in hurry,” said the young man arrogantly. The policeman responded politely, “I am sure you can pay the fine but if you don’t drive carefully, you might have an accident. You can hurt yourself as well as others.”  I overheard this conversation as I was standing by the road, waiting for the pedestrian light to turn green. I thanked the policeman for his polite and kind behaviour towards the arrogant young man. I wondered how can someone breaking the law afford to be rude and someone who has the power to take action as per the law be kind and polite. The policeman gave me simple response, “It makes me happy.”

Kindness indeed leads to happiness. Researchers have also found that once people get into the loop of being kind, they feel happy. And, their acts of kindness make others happy too. By expanding the circle of kindness, we can make the world a happy place for everyone.

How can we cultivate kindness and make it a habit?

I propose three ideas:

Our life has three social circles: family/friends; school/work; and a lager circle of people in need. Let’s ask ourselves how we could display more kindness in each of these circles. This is not a big ask.  It means doing little acts of kindness like a phone call to a lonely person; an advice to someone facing a problem; giving a hand to someone complete a task or helping a person in need. If nothing, speaking kindly with people around us means a lot. 

Identify what stops us from doing these little acts. It could be that we are going too fast and missing little opportunities to be kind to people around us. Keep digging until you find the answers. When we redefine our priorities, we will find family and people come first rather than job, career or materialistic things we keep chasing.

Sense the needs of people around you. Kindness means doing things without being asked for. Look for opportunities to be kind. Dalai Lama has said it well, “Be kind whenever possible. It is always possible.”

Finally being stressed is no excuse to being rude. Make kindness a habit. It will keep you happy.