Totnes Therapy offers life enhancing mindfulness practice
Equanimity. What does it mean?
Kindness and Motivations
Are our motivations for helping others truly altruistic? What are some of the payoffs for helping others? Do we want recognition, to feel good, to fit into society, because it is expected of us, to receive something in return, to ‘get’ better Karma. If we meditate on this and be truly honest with ourselves, we will see element of ‘self-gratification’.
However, most of us experience a sense of ‘altruism’ at some point in our lives. In deep mediation, we may notice some ‘altruism’ where we remember having spontaneously helped a person or animal in an emergency or from a deeply felt belief. Very often we tend to reserve acts of kindness towards our own children, family members or in times of disaster or war – these true acts of kindness are in situations where we know there is nothing to be gained. Yet we wait for ‘true acts of kindness’ to be only for our own family & emergencies. So why don’t we begin practicing this now?
Here are some daily practices of ‘true acts of kindness.
- Tell a loved one what you appreciate about them.
- Help an older person you know with their gardening.
- Smile at everyone for a day.
- Plant a community garden.
- Thank your community cleaners and workers.
- Write to someone you have not spoken too for a while.
- Say sorry to someone when you need to.
- Write kind notes and leave them for the Neighbours.
- Leave a couple of £1 coins at the local launderette.
- Text 10 people and give them a compliment.
By Anita Lennox