5 things I learned from kind people

In my 30 plus years on this planet, I met lot of people from different background and diverse religions, ethnicity, color, etc. And from those thousands hundreds that passed throughout my life, there were the deluded kind ones that had self-interested politeness, calculated generosity and superficial etiquette. There were the kind people who pretend to care for someone all the while repressing anger or contempt; hiding rage or frustration behind false pleasantries. And lastly, there were the simply nice people, selfless and waiting nothing in return for their kindness.

5 things I learned from the selfless kind people I encountered in my life:

1. Be kind to myself. In order to be kind to others, I had to focus on being kind to myself and having the ability to know myself better. Because when the basic of a building is not solid enough, the building will eventually fall apart. Same thing applies for kindness: when you are not kind to yourself, your kindness to others risks falling and you become deluded self-interested and superficial person.

2. Be happy,  joyful, and grateful. People living in the Middle East - precisely - experienced lot of cruelty, challenges and despair, but they - continuously - restored their sense of faith in humanity. I learned to maintain an optimistic attitude and do acts of kindness with genuine joy and cheerfulness rather than with reluctance or out of a sense of duty or service.

3. "Be kind, for everyone you meet is fighting a hard battle". I learned that it's so easy to forget about other people's feelings and battles. Therefore, I needed to think before committing any act or saying any word, and calculate the impact it has on others. 

4. Expand my circle of kindness. It can be very easy to be kind to family and friends or people from same background and same country. I learned not to do selective kindness, and be kind to everyone: the sick, the poor, the vulnerable, the rich, the ones who have everything, the ones I dislike etc.

5. Expect nothing in return. Princess Diana said: “Carry out a random act of kindness, with no expectation of reward, safe in the knowledge that one day someone might do the same for you.” I learned that practicing a random acts of kindness is contagious and when I carry out one act of kindness, someone might be kind to me someday. And that's when I decided to start "The Kindness Project in the Middle East" and spread kindness everywhere. 

And now I just want to be the kind of person that kind people like and want to be like.

By Heidi Shebaro 

Founder of "The Kindness Project in the Middle East", a teacher and a blogger