Kindness, Clarity, and Insight is a collection of talks that the Tibetan Buddhist Dalai Lama gave in the USA and Canada more than forty years ago. With this and later books, the Dalai Lama brought Tibetan Buddhism and the situation in Tibet into prominent international awareness; he went on to win the Nobel Peace Prize in 1989.
Posts tagged #kindness
Random Acts of Kindness: Kindness is Always Possible! Join the Kindness Revolution
I think most people would agree that the pandemic has made a lot of things that we used to take for granted much more complicated. For example: every time I go grocery shopping now, I feel I am putting my health at risk. Because of staffing shortages, I know I’m probably going to have to wait in line for a long time and end up in a DIY check-out lane—and those machines, for whatever reason, hate me. They spew out a constant stream of commands and demands that I can never understand. If I had any feelings of peace and harmony when I entered the store, I know they will be gone by the time I leave.
Do Unto Others--A Modest Proposal
One morning earlier this year, I went to buy tires at a local store I’ve patronized for over four decades. The man behind the counter and I recognized each other, he’s worked there for many of those years. After we said our hellos, I told him what I needed and he said, “I’ve got the tires, but only one guy to put them on the cars. I’m full up today and for the rest of the week.” (This was on a Tuesday morning.) “Come back next Monday,” he said.
Raptors to the Rescue! Wildlife Ambassadors Teach Lessons in Conservation
Like many people I know, if you told me in the summer of 2020 that the pandemic would probably drag on for two years or more, I would not have believed you. In fact, I would have thought you were a negative, defeatist person, and I would have avoided you like—well, the plague.
Random Acts of Kindness: International Neighbors--Sisters From All Around the World
When Eunkyun “Nana” Oh first joined International Neighbors (IN), an Ann Arbor-based nonprofit, in fall 2019, she knew she had finally found a way to feel like she belonged to the community. “It’s difficult for foreigners when they first come here,” she explained. “Especially for women who come here to support their husbands and children. Maybe in Korea they are important. But I talked to one Korean woman who said when she first came here, she thought to herself: “I am nothing here. I am like dust.”
Random Acts of Kindness: Layla Ananda's List of Miracles--Celebrating the Gift of Sight
Many people believe they can maintain a spiritual connection with a loved one even after that person dies. Ann Arbor resident Layla Ananda says that’s true for her, too—though two of the most important people in her life were complete strangers whom she never met. Ananda started to lose her eyesight at the age of twenty-nine, but thanks to two corneal donors and a pair of contact lenses, she now enjoys 20-20 sight.
Mutual Aid in Washtenaw County--Can the Pandemic Have a Silver Lining?
It’s likely that most Americans will remember the year 2020 as one of the worst in their lifetimes. But if we take a step back, we might find that the year also brought many inspiring reminders of the capacity of the human spirit to overcome adversity and lend comfort to strangers.
Live Love--Share the Hearts
By Michael Oliver
As I embarked on my journey into 2020, I found my fellow human beings becoming increasingly angry, fearful, and distrustful of each other. I asked myself this question, “Is this who we really are?” It felt like the negative and dark energy hiding in the shadows finally found a doorway. So many triggers appeared, and they would consistently attempt to flip the switches of light, to darkness. At times it felt terribly dark and other times, it felt like light was returning. It is a battle that continues today, but is not a new battle; it is a different battle.
What is different about this battle, you may ask? Awareness! Yes, we are more aware of what was lurking in the darkness than we were in the past. Humans are waking up! And it is in that process of waking up that we are learning to acknowledge the ways of the past that have been damaging to our species and limiting our growth toward living a life of love and joy. For me, 2020 triggered a deep and self-reflective time. I kept pondering over what I could do to make life for humanity better, and I came up with the Share the Hearts Campaign.
The Share the Hearts Campaign was inspired by Dr. Kenneth McCulley who founded a human potential development program which included a poem titled I Live Love Every Moment of My Life. In that poem, Dr. McCulley’s primary message was to wake people up to the reality that we all come from the same source and as such, we are all brothers and sisters, one and the same. It was Dr. McCulley’s dream that all humans demonstrate, unconditionally, Living Love—performing acts of kindness for their fellow human beings. Motivated by the energy and effort of Dr. McCulley, our team wanted to build a campaign that would operationalize that message to the world.
Sharing a simple wooden heart can make a difference! Every act of kindness, thoughtfulness, caring, and copassion, is an act of living a life of love—as the Beatles once sang, “All We Need is Love.” True! What a difference love can make.
Mindtation, a small start-up company, is on a mission to help people find their paths of joy, because when people are living their joy, they live a life that is aligned with who they truly are, living in and experiencing positive synchronicities. We decided that we wanted to do something fun, yet meaningful, to engage people back into love consciousness and help them along with aligning with their true selves.
Read related article: Living From the Awakened Heart
Along with teaching the power of meditation, the breath, mindfulness, intuition and sound, we are initiating the Share the Hearts campaign to help spread loving kindness. Wondering how it works? Small packets of wooden hearts are purchased from our website and then you can give them to people you “catch” doing acts of loving kindness. In the packet, there is a heart and a card explaining the purpose of this event. Each one of us will be the eyes of the change we want to see. This act, this awareness, plants the seed of love and kindness into one’s consciousness—making it grow each time it is acknowledged within someone else. Each time a wooden heart is given for an act of kindness, it reinforces love and kindness within yourself (the giver) as well as expanding the consciousness of love in others (the receivers).
At the deepest level, we are all one and the same. As Peter Yarrow said, “There is only one river. There is only one sea. And it flows through you, and it flows through me. There is only one people. We are one and the same.” The kick-off for Mindtation’s Sharing the Hearts Campaign took place on April 9th, 2021. To kick-off the event, Mindtation presented a video providing an overview of what it means to live in joy and love—especially during stressful times and the many benefits that it can bring. The purpose of this campaign is to bring us back to loving kindness and mindfulness...bring us back to awareness of our own humanity.
Let’s re-learn how to respond to all situations with love. The goal is to put the intention of Living Love, our Truth, back into the world.
If you are interested in this campaign and would like to learn more, please visit Sharethehearts.com. A percentage of all heart package purchases will be donated to select charities.
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On Forest Bathing and the Kindness of Trees
For as long as I can remember, I have been a tree-loving, tree-hugging kind of gal. At 4’11” tall I had a small body and strong arms that made it easy for me to climb trees. For years, I could follow my two children up any tree as high as they could go. But somewhere along the way I gained some weight and fear of heights, and my tree-climbing days were over. Nevertheless, I have never gotten over my deep reverence for trees. It should be obvious to anyone that they are higher life forms.
Random Acts of Kindness-- Saved By the Squirrels
From the moment I woke up, I knew it was going to be a bad day. Not because it was a Monday, though that didn’t help. And the cold rain pelting against my windows didn’t help, either. No, I knew that it was guaranteed to be a Very Bad Day because I had slept through my alarm clock and woke up two hours late. I’m in business for myself so normally my boss would have cut me some slack, but on this particular Monday, I was on deadline to write an article and hand it in by 5 p.m.—just seven hours away. I didn’t have a first draft and hadn’t even decided on a topic yet. Sometimes, with the help of adrenaline, I can wing it, but I was sure that I wouldn’t be able to this time.
Random Acts of Kindness-- Saturdays at Mercy House
Every Saturday for the past five years, from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., it’s breakfast time at Peggy’s house, where she cooks pancakes for whoever happens to show up that week. Most of Peggy’s guests are old friends of hers—in fact, it’s always a family reunion of sorts. But there are almost always new people, too—most of whom feel welcome the minute they walk through the door. That’s because extending simple hospitality is the central goal of Peggy’s house, one of five Catholic Worker houses in Michigan and 178 in the U.S.
Naomi’s Wilderness Adventure
ver since we adopted our cat Naomi from the Humane Society four years ago, she has been content to live her life as an indoor cat. That is until one Sunday in late April, when the sights and smells of spring got to be too much for her, and she escaped unnoticed—probably while my husband was taking out the trash.
Random Acts of Kindness-- The Great Casserole Challenge
You can see the evidence of random kindness in every season—it’s not hard to find. For me, it happens a lot in winter, after a heavy snowfall. More often than not, I’ll look out the front window, dreading the fact that I’ll have to shovel the walk, only to discover it’s already been cleared by a sneaky neighbor! Suddenly my claustrophobic winter dread is replaced by the joy of new snow glittering in the sunshine. The day is now extra special because someone went out of their way to make it so.
