“My religion is very simple. My religion is kindness.”
Dalai Lama
This quote by the Dalai Lama seems incredibly simple but in my books that’s why it is so profound. Kindness isn’t just a healthy attribute it is essential for having a good and happy life. Kindness, I feel is the most contagious of emotions and if one aspires to kindness then one’s friends and acquaintances become kind too.
“I find hope in the darkest of days, and focus in the brightest. I do not judge the universe.”
Dalai Lama
This quote by the Dalai Lama speaks to me today as I have been struggling all afternoon and now evening with dark thoughts and sadness missing my mum and thinking of my woes. However, through studying the Dalai Lama’s wisdom through quotes from the internet I am finding hope, humour in the movie I’ve been watching and excitement about the day to come tomorrow. All while writing this short essay in the notes of my iPhone.
The movie I have been watching on Netflix while writing is incredibly inspiring and interesting called Gifted Hands about a brain surgeon named Ben Carson an African American who came from a poor family and got a scholarship to go to Yale after getting off to a slow start in learning at school and raised by a single mother. Then he went on to be considered the best neurosurgeon in the world.
“A tree is known by its fruit; a man by his deeds. A good deed is never lost; he who sows courtesy reaps friendship, and he who plants kindness gathers love”.
Saint Basil the Great
I love this quote by Saint Basil and I feel there is a strong connection between the wisdom of the Dalai Lama around kindness and the idea by Basil that a person who is kind gathers great platonic love.
“Kindness is my only guiding star. In its light, I sail a straight route, I have my motto written on my sail: ‘To live in love.'”
St. Therese of Lisieux
I hope also to live in platonic love and by connecting the wisdom of the Dalai Lama and Tibetan Buddhism with the wisdom of a male and female Catholic saints I want to find not just the connection between spiritual wisdom of the East and West but also a balance between male and female wisdom and energy.
My mother was incredibly kind but was also quite stern and strong and when I lived with her made sure I didn’t stray off the path too much. Her wisdom was sage and the best opportunity I have had in my life was having the opportunity to nurse her when she was old and frail. My favourite advice from her to me was stop drawing yourself and use colour.
My other favourite grandmother who is also a great grandmother is Gwenda from the pool and I see her most mornings weekdays in the big pool. We are always joking around but she also gives me sage advice no matter how big or small my problem is. I always say the only advice better than a grandmother’s is the advice of a great grandmother.
“I remember a specific moment, watching my grandmother hang the clothes on the line, and her saying to me, ‘you are going to have to learn to do this,’ and me being in that space of awareness and knowing that my life would not be the same as my grandmother’s life.”
Oprah Winfrey
I like this Winfrey quote as mimicking a grandmother is one of the best things anyone can do.
In conclusion being kind and kindness comes in many forms but I feel if I seek kindness in abundance then the better and happier my life shall be.
