I’m pretty active on social media. I have a particular fondness for Pinterest.
You can check out my boards at www.pinterest.com/budbilanich. My Inspiration board has almost 1,300 pins. Recently, I’ve noticed that one of my pins gets repinned very frequently. It is a picture of the Dalai Lama and his philosophy: “My philosophy is kindness.” In describing that pin, I tweeted, “Be kind it costs you nothing and can mean the world to someone else.”
All of those repins say to me that kindness resonates.
People are drawn to it. People want others to be kind to them. And I believe most people want to be kind to others.
Kindness can be as simple as holding a door open for someone whose hands are full, or returning your shopping cart to the designated area rather than leaving it in the parking lot, or smiling and saying hello to someone you don’t know. All of these things cost you nothing, yet they can make someone else’s day.
Here’s a kindness story.
I have self-published several books. The other day, I received an email from someone I didn’t know asking me if I had some time to chat with him about self-publishing. He’s finishing a book and wanted to know how to best get it into print.
He lives in Denver, so I sent him an email suggesting that we meet for coffee. He seemed surprised that I answered so quickly and that I agreed to meet with him. To me it was no big deal, I was only being kind. Over the years I’ve learned a lot about self-publishing – a confusing subject. It is only natural for me to share what I’ve learned with others, because what good is knowledge if it’s not shared?
Interestingly enough, I ended up getting more out of the conversation than he did. It turns out that my new friend is a tech maven. I have been trying to figure out the best way to record vlogs (video blog posts) at my office. Once I told him what I knew about self-publishing, I asked him for some advice on what equipment I needed to record vlogs. He told me that I can do it using my smart phone as long as I get a microSD card (whatever that is) for the phone. I was planning on buying a camera to record the vlogs. The one I was considering retails at $399. The microSD card will cost about $20. That’s a net savings to me of $379.
This was a karmic experience for me. I responded to someone who reached out to me. I chose kindness.
I did my best to help him with his questions. In turn, he helped me with something with which I have been struggling. The Merriam Webster Dictionary defines karma as “the force created by a person’s actions that some people believe causes good or bad things to happen to that person.” I think the Urban Dictionary says it better. It defines karma as, “What goes around, comes around.” I believe this is the case with kindness. Spread a little kindness and it will come back to you. Be kind, and people will be kind to you.
But in the end, don’t be kind because you might get something from it – like a tip that will save you $379. Be kind because you make the world a better place, a gentler place. Think about that this holiday season. Better yet, keep it in mind as you go through life next year and the year after that.
Read more posts by Bud Bilanich, Ed.D., The Common Sense Guy, a career success coach, leadership consultant, motivational speaker, bestselling author and influential blogger for JenningsWire.
The online feature magazine, JenningsWire.com, is created by National PR Firm, Annie Jennings PR that specializes in providing book promotion services to self-published and traditionally published authors. Annie Jennings PR books authors, speakers and experts on major high impact radio talk interview shows, on local, regionally syndicated and national TV shows and on influential online media outlets and in prestigious print magazines and newspapers across the country.
