What defines happiness for us? While having ‘enough’ is a good thing, it can’t be material supply alone – we all see so many examples of folks who have more than ‘enough’ and yet are still subject to any of the woes of this human experience. Happiness is not, cannot be, selfish. In order to experience happiness, to know the difference, it has to be shared with others.

So, when we share a selfless smile or small deed (holding a door open for the next person, allowing someone in need to go ahead of oneself in the grocery store lineup, etc), we are sharing happiness! These ‘baby steps’, although small, have a much bigger impact than we realize. They are part of the collective daily experience that, when we take a number of these steps in any given day, when we share these little gems of human kindness, we are adding to our own and other people’s store of happiness. The unseen benefits of this are enormous for all and especially for someone who may be struggling with challenging issues within their own lives.

While kindness should be freely given, the other side of this coin is, of course, do we recognize and appreciate the acts of kindness of others? We can only do this when we are looking outward in a selfless manner.  It’s so important to be gracious and grateful when we receive thoughtful kindness from others.  Recognition of the kindness of others tends to have a snowball effect and isn’t that a nice image – this huge snowball of kindness, gathering and distributing good on its way!

So smile and do good – your daily ‘baby steps’ of kindness, are a wonderful reward for both the giver and receiver.

Zed