Recently my wife, Marcia, and I attended a meeting of about 20 people where I was asked to lead a discussion on kindness. As the meeting progressed, people started sharing their personal stories about kind acts they had performed for others. It quickly became clear that performing these kind acts was an important source of joy in these people’s lives. And now that they were reliving these stories by sharing them, they were experiencing that joy all over again. On top of that, everyone in the room who was listening to these stories were feeling that joy as well—they were smiling, upbeat and very excited. The lesson here is that performing a kind act is not a one-time joyful experience. Each time you reflect on performing that kind act, you’re going to be able bask in that joy again and when you share it with others, they’re going to bask in that joy with you. No wonder kind people are so happy!

One Sentence Wisdom

• “The simplest acts of kindness are by far more powerful than a thousand heads bowing in prayer.” — Mahatma Gandhi
• “I’ve been searching for ways to heal myself, and I’ve found that kindness is the best way.” — Lady Gaga

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