First things first – kindness

The first habit in Steven Covey’s seminal self improvement book, The seven habits of highly successful people is called, “First things first.” He talks about doing the most important things first and brings important things like family, health etc into it (if I remember correctly).

The other night I arrived home quite tired and I went to visit a neighbor who’s husband is in the hospital to esquire how he is doing. I felt quite tired and it would have been easy to make an excuse and not go and visit my friend who did need a stranger to talk to.

It felt good to make a fellow human being feel better.

The fact that the couple in question are about twenty years older than me helped make it much easier for me as in my native culture we respect our elders…

Two weeks earlier I did something similar for another elderly neighbor. Again, I was exceedingly tired (and this feisty eight four year old lady loves to talk) but I willed myself to do the right thing. She went on and on. I was tired, but it did feel good to be kind, to be generous with my time.

In order to understand what are the important things in life you need to do a thought experiment. Imagine you are on your dying bed and think what regrets you have. As far as I know no one complains on death bed that he/she did not spend more time being selfish and unkind. No one regrets no having got one over more people. No one says, “I wish I had bought more toys.”

People do regret not having spent more time with loved ones. People wish they had been kinder, more compassionate, wiser.
They wish they had been more gentle, appreciated the simple joys of life – sunsets, a smile, rain drops, the list is endless…

So next time you want to do something put your best foot forward – be kind, gentle, appreciative, compassionate and joyful.

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