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Happy New Year 2014

I would like to start off the New Year with some quotes.

I would also like to say a few words about kindness and compassion. When I behave with kindness and compassion, I feel like I am on the right path.  When I see someone treat another human being with kindness and compassion, I feel like they are on the right path.  Conversely, when I behave without kindness and compassion, I feel fear.  When I see someone treat another human being without kindness and compassion, I feel anger and sadness.

Where there is kindness, there is also cruelty.  Words spoken with hatred and cruel words spoken with an attitude of entitlement cause disharmony in relationships.  A hostile tone is left lingering in the space between two people.  The tendency then is to fight back or to withdraw. 

There seems to be a pervasive sense in some people of “I can say what I want, however I want.  I’m just being honest. I can do what I want.  It’s my life. ”  This attitude is supported by a narcissistic personality – a person who acts in a way without empathy for another person’s feelings. These people justify their behavior under the guise of “being honest.”  There tends to be a superior tone to this rationalization.  “I know better than you.” “You are too stupid to realize (whatever it is), without me telling you the way it is.”  “That’s just who I am.  I’m just an honest person.” 

I am very concerned and worried about this kind of attitude.  I see it too much.  I see the pain it causes in relationships.  I am asking all of us to raise our level of consciousness to become aware of when we are being unkind and cruel and to stop it.  I am asking all of us to relinquish our narcissistic attitude and to treat other human beings with kindness.   No one is superior to another human being.  No one is less than another human being.  No one is entitled to treat another person abusively.  Think about how you are treating another person and whether you are feeling “entitled” to say or do whatever you want.  If the answer is yes, then stop, breathe and speak or act in a way that is with kindness.

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Intelligence is nothing without kindness.

 

The  test of first-rate intelligence is to hold two opposed ideas in mind at the same time and still retain the ability to function.  F. Scott Fitzgerald

Maturity is achieved when a person postpones immediate pleasure for long-term values.  Joshua Liebman

Never react emotionally to criticism. Analyze yourself to determine whether it is justified. If it is, correct yourself. Otherwise, go on about your business."  Norman Vincent Peale

"Any person capable of angering you becomes your master." Epictetus

Instead of resisting any emotion, the best way to dispel it is to enter it fully, embrace it and see through your resistance."  Deepak Chopra

"We are dangerous when we are not conscious of our responsibility for how we behave, think, and feel."  Marshall B. Rosenberg

Confidence on the outside begins by living with integrity on the inside."  Brian Tracy

"Quick to judge, quick to anger, slow to understand... prejudice, fear and ignorance walk hand-in-hand."  Peart

When I was young, I used to admire intelligent people; as I grow older, I admire kind people.  Abraham Joshua Heschel

The worst sin toward our fellow creatures is not to hate them, but to be indifferent to them: that's the essense of inhumanity.  George Bernard Shaw

If you want others to be happy, practice compassion. If you want to be happy, practice compassion.  The Dalai Lama

There is always a way to be honest without being brutal.  Arthur Dobrin

The only way to tell the truth is to speak with kindness. Only the words of a loving man can be heard.  Henry David Thoreau

Three things in human life are important. The first is to be kind. The second is to be kind. The third is to be kind.  Henry James

Too often we underestimate the power of a touch, a smile, a kind word, a listening ear, an honest compliment, or the smallest act of caring, all of which have the potential to turn a life around.  Leo Buscaglia

 

With respect,

Barbara