Mindful Monday - Being Kind in Negative Situations
How true is this quote by Ian Maclaren...
Be kind, for everyone you meet is fighting a hard battle.
And how hard is it to be kind?
I'm sure you can relate to having fought hard battles and also there has been times in your life when you were stressed, frustrated or angry, we all experience that.
How do you handle that?
Do you become annoyed or rude? Do you start sending out negative vibes?
Or are you able to control your negative reactions in stressful situations and instead be calm and act in a more kind and loving manner?
To move towards that more positive way of responding you first need to understand your emotions.
What is creating the stress and negative emotions? Are you overwhelmed at work? Is it a person that is triggering the emotion? Finding the root cause of your negativity will allow you to make changes to reduce the stress.
Work towards changing whatever you can. Find the root cause and take action to change it. If it cannot be changed, can it be cut from your life? While making changes, cut out other stress triggers as much as possible. Change negative thought patterns into more positive ones.
To cut down on that stress and negativity incorporate healthy outlets into your life. Regular exercise can give you an emotional lift and an outlet for negative emotions. Meditation helps you relax and stay calmer. Volunteering and helping others will help you be less negative.
And finally respond to negativity with kindness
- Instead of mirroring others negative actions and thoughts back to them try treating them kindly.
- Drop your anger and be more pleasant, in your speech use a friendly voice. Being mindful of what you are saying and controlling your voice can lead to being more kind.
- Watch your body position, keep it open and relaxed. Drop any rolling of your eyes, sighing or other negative body language movements.
- Just breathe! Take a few long, slow, deep breaths in through your nose, pause slightly, then let your breath out. Deep breathing relaxes you and re-centers your emotions.
- Smile. It is contagious and helps keep you and others at ease.
- Distract yourself by engaging in something pleasant or helping someone else.
Just because you are stressed doesn’t mean you need to react negatively to others. Instead, act in a way that is kind and considerate of the feelings of all involved. As Mother Teresa’s poem titled Anyway, states:
People are often unreasonable, illogical and self-centered; forgive them anyway. If you are kind, people may accuse you of selfish, ulterior motives; be kind anyway.
May you be happy and peaceful, sharing that with all those around you!
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Hehehe, it always strikes me how 'in tune' the ecotrain people are :) I just wrote about similar subjects. Yes, kindness goes a long way, much longer than negative emotions. It's nice to be nice :)
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I always try to be nice to people, and to always stay on a positive vibe. Getting on the road often turns into a bad situation for keeping that going for me though.
I used to love to drive, but there are so many hotheads on the road and some really nasty, bad drivers, that just trying to get to the supermarket wrecks the positivity for a few hours at least.
The number of really, just mean people, seems to be increasing as well!
I agree the number of not so nice people seems to be increasing - all the more important to spread a little kindness! Be the light in the dark!
Kindness is a blessing in this world
I am in love with kindness and she loves me for it. She is a part of wisdom and I belong to their family.
A good thing is always to put the self in another person's shoes. Our own battles and insecurities are faced by all others and some are weaker than others to handle the stresses. Normally it's the weak ones that lash out at others.
There is a song that I like and the opening line is; "Understanding is the best thing in the world"
Blessings!
Words well spoken! I could tell you are a kind man by your writing and charity work! And yes! understanding is right up there with kindness!
I think that you are exactly the same my friend.
Souls with open ears and open eyes are always drawn together and I am not talking about physical ears and eyes here.
Blessings!
I think you are right about that, for I have amazingly made connections with a lot of "awakened" people whom I would not normally have connected with in my usual circle of friends!
I think that the "awakened" souls are all drawn together by a higher power my friend!
Blessings!
Yes yes yes.... Sometimes a single act of kindness from a stranger can brighten someone's whole day. (and remind them that there is still good in the world too.) <3 Love this. Also, it costs nothing! Such an inspiring post!
I tend to think I'm kind to ( almost ) everybody I meet but must admit that it's harder to be kind to some people. So, if I can, I avoid them or only talk to them briefly ( also because it drains my energy pretty fast ) and spend more time around those with whom it's easier to feel good. I'm also learning, more and more, that I need to become my own best friend. This way, I can deal with others even better.
Awesome advice, over all and a sign that I'm on the right path but still have some work to do :>)
That wass a big lesson for me to learn that if I could not be kind or loving towards someone and only became angree or irritated it was better to just stay away from that person. That made for a more peaceful life!
Be kind... its amazing how people find this so hard to do! Perhaps because people have not shown kindness to them. It takes some practice sometimes, but a simple and beautiful mantra to live by, as you do yourself! 💕💕💕🙏🙏🙏
Good point Rivers! If they have not been shown kindness it may be rather foreign to them. All the more reason to show more kindness. I remember helping out my niece's husband (someone most of the family doesn't want to much to do with) and it was wonderful to receive his response of thanks, saying he wasn't use to people helping him. I took that leap of faith and treated him as though he were my own son and it was nip and tuck if he would squander the funds I had given him for a specific purpose or not. I was getting nervous but eventually he pulled through and the family is better off for it. Everyone is happy!
Totally!! Thats so sweet you did that. You have to resist those eye for eye thoughts and choose.kindness DESPITE what others might do. In the end it always has a good outcome.
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Agreed!
I really needed to read this today, it really hit home. You have such great advice in here, thanks again for sharing your wisdom with us @porters xx
A little act of kindness goes a long way 😉👍 I enjoyed reading this! 🙂
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