The Fools Pilgrimage – Kindness

The Fools Pilgrimage

The Spiritual (and other) adventures of the ‘common person’.

A start but not the beginning!

I’ve been wanting to write a ‘blog’ of sorts for ages about all things spiritual but relevant for day to day living.

So I’ve decided just to jump straight into it!

A mixture of insight inspired by something from within or without, with a real life application to it.

I’d love you to come along on this journey with me – so I welcome conversation and engagement and I hope that as I traverse thru this human condition you might find some help, solace and comfort in it too

Namaste – Have a great day

It was during a meditation session the other day when the thought of kindness popped into my mind.

I’d read a poster on the wall in the residential part of Sclerder Abbey that was taken from the book The Boy, the Mole, the Fox and the Horse.

The mole has asked the boy: “what do you want to be when you grow up?” And the boy answered “kind”.

Another poster showed the boy, the mole and the fox walking, and the mole was saying “we often wait for kindness… but being kind to yourself can start now” 

This then formed the basis of this meditation – kindness. Kindness to oneself and then kindness to others.

Mine, (and Lisa’s) parenting style is to put great care and importance into making sure our children (and grandchildren) feel special and treat them with kindness – Life is hard! We can all contest that along this bumpy road we meander there are challenges and obstacles all the way!

Some are physical challenges – others mental or emotional and others that can be spiritually draining. Financial challenges can really impact on all those areas of our wellness.

Why is kindness important?

Surely being tough is better?

I remember a favourite quote of mine from Bruce Lee: “Do not pray for an easy life, pray for the strength to endure a difficult one”

In one of the recent podcasts from Steven Bartletts’ DOAC he talks with Wimm Hoff The Ice Man – and Wimm explains that stresses and strains will always exist and if you don’t go and find the cold the cold will come and find you!

Back in the crazy days of my younger years we would train in full contact stick fighting and this led me to train with the Dog Brothers in California where they have the motto ‘A higher state of consciousness thru harder contact’ and having a rattan stick hit you at full pelt really puts you into a stressful situation.

And, I do encourage my children and friends as well as my self to push outside of your comfort zone – that’s where change and life starts living – so why then is Kindness important?

According to the Mental Health Foundation – one act of kindness can often lead to more! Acts of kindness make the world a happier place – they boost confidence and feelings of being in control – physically our blood pressure lessens, we decrease the levels of cortisol the stress hormone. Kindness increases your feeling of connectivity with others, lessens loneliness.

Kindness then is a great tool that helps build the strength of character we need to overcome the challenges that life trows at us.

In our coaching programme we recognise the Triple A theory – we all want Attention, Affection and Appreciation and Kindness ticks all those three A’s.

As I sit here and look at a family photo, I’m drawn to my grand daughter – Big Baby Ivy – she’s only 2, a real blessing and a joy to be around – to her it’s easy to be kind – but it’s not always easy to be kind to others and for many of us being kind to ourselves is very odd!

It doesn’t mean we over indulge ourselves with ‘treats’ for that is not healthy but rather we need to look at ourselves like we would look at a small child and see how they, like us, like you, like me, are a wonderful person, a brilliant person and lovely just the way the are – and being kind makes them feel good and makes us feel good too. 

Kindness that sits within that challenge and obstacle makes the growth a positive experience and the world and happier and more loving place.

Namaste – Have a great day