Quotes About Kindness

I don't know. I really don't. All I know is that my life is better when I assume that people are doing their best. It keeps me out of judgment and lets me focus on what is, and not what should or could be." His answer felt like truth to me. Not an easy truth, but truth.

To talk to ourselves the same way we'd talk to someone we care about.

I think the most important thing she has told me about reaching out to others in crisis is this: "You do it because that's the person you want to be. You do it because that could have been me and one day it could just as easily be you.

Can you love someone and cheat on them or treat them poorly?" I thought about it for a long time, then gave the best answer I could based on my work: "I don't know if you can love someone and betray them or be cruel to them, but I do know that when you betray someone or behave in an unkind way toward them, you are not practicing love. And, for me, I don't just want someone who says they love me; I want someone who practices that love for me every day.

empathy is infinite and renewable.

Because loving them and accepting their imperfections is much easier than turning that light of loving-kindness on myself.

When someone shares something great that's happened to them, we can show interest and ask questions. When someone demonstrates joy when we share ours, we can express gratitude: "Thank you for celebrating this with me. It means so much that you're happy for me.

Perfectionism never happens in a vacuum. It touches everyone around us. We pass it down to our children, we infect our workplace with impossible expectations, and it's suffocating for our friends and families. Thankfully, compassion also spreads quickly. When we're kind to ourselves, we create a reservoir of compassion that we can extend to others. Our children learn how to be self-compassionate by watching us, and the people around us feel free to be authentic and connected.

the "action" part of compassion wasn't making things better or fixing,

Empathy heals another at exactly the same time it is healing me.

Knowledge is important, but only if we're being kind and gentle with ourselves as we work to discover who we are.

Don't apologize for what you have. Be grateful for it and share your gratitude with others.

90 percent of regrets fall into one of six categories: education, career, romance, parenting, self-improvement, and leisure, I've heard many research participants echo Saunders in regretting failures of kindness.

If we believe empathy is finite, like pizza, and practicing empathy with someone leaves fewer slices for others, then perhaps comparing levels of suffering would be necessary. Luckily, however, empathy is infinite and renewable. The more you give, the more we all have. That means all pain can be met with empathy—there's no reason to rank and ration.

Which means we don't "fix it" by cutting people down to size and reminding folks of their inadequacies and smallness. Shame is more likely to be the cause of these behaviors, not the cure.

Take good care" has to do with how we take care of ourselves and each other: I treat my colleagues with respect and compassion by responding when appropriate in a timely and professional manner. I practice gratitude with my team and colleagues. I am mindful of other people's time.

Cruelty is cheap, easy, and chicken shit

Self-kindness is both more difficult and more revolutionary than we think.

If we take a closer look at the origin of the word compassion, much like we did with courage, we see why compassion is not typically our first response to suffering. The word compassion is derived from the Latin words pati and cum, meaning "to suffer with

Talk to yourself the way you'd talk to someone you live. Most of us shame, belittle and criticize ourselves in ways we'd never think of doing to others. I would never look at Ellen or Charlie and say, "God, you're so stupid!" Yet I can whisper that to myself in a heartbeat. p158

Talk to yourself the way you'd talk to someone you love. Most of us shame, belittle and criticize ourselves in ways we'd never think of doing to others. I would never look at Ellen or Charlie and say, "God, you're so stupid!" Yet I can whisper that to myself in a heartbeat. p158

can only love others as much as we love ourselves.

I don't think you can ever know for certain. But I do know that my life is better when I work from the assumption that everyone is doing the best they can.

Cruelty is cheap, easy, and chickenshit. It doesn't deserve your energy or engagement. Just step over the comments and keep daring, always remembering that armor is too heavy a price to pay to engage with cheap-seat feedback.