Kindness is the only key to lifelong happiness that I have seen work reliably. It does not work just sometimes or only for certain people. It works consistently for everyone regardless of their life situation or background. The happiest people I have known were not those with the most money or the best luck. They were people who practiced kindness and compassion toward others every single day until these qualities became a natural part of their character.
- Kindness is the only key to lifelong happiness that I have seen work reliably. It does not work just sometimes or only for certain people. It works consistently for everyone regardless of their life situation or background. The happiest people I have known were not necessarily rich or fortunate. They were people who practiced kindness and compassion toward others every single day. They did this so regularly that it became a natural part of their character & identity.
- My landlord waived my rent for five months when my husband walked out. I had two kids and no job. His wife screamed at him that they were not running a charity. She stopped speaking to him for weeks. Three years later I discovered the real reason he helped me. He grew up watching his mother get evicted three times before he turned ten. It was the same story as mine. He told himself that if he ever owned property no single mother would lose her home on his watch. His wife never knew any of this. When she found out she came to my door herself and apologized. She said she did not know because he never told her why. They were fine after that and she started helping too. I paid him back every cent two years later but he tried to refuse. I told him to take it so he could do it again for someone else.
- My grandmother phoned me every Sunday at 11am for 23 years and never missed once. I was not always a good grandson during those calls. Some Sundays I ignored the phone when it rang. Other Sundays I rushed through our conversation. There were Sundays when I was distracted & barely paying attention and she noticed but never made me feel bad about it. After she died I found myself sitting by my phone at 11am on the first Sunday. I did not realize what I was doing until I was already waiting there. The next Sunday I did the same thing. Then the Sunday after that too. I still sit near my phone at 11am every Sunday now. I do not know when this habit will end. I am not even sure I want it to end. Waiting by the phone is the closest I can get to hearing her call again.
- I received a text from an unknown number asking how I was holding up. I told them they had the wrong person. They said sorry and explained they were trying to reach a friend whose father had just died. I expressed my sympathy and set my phone aside. A moment later I picked it up again & wrote that their concern for their friend showed good character. They responded by saying they had almost not sent anything because they couldn’t find the right words. I told them their friend would forget the exact message but would remember that they reached out. That was our last exchange. Now whenever I hesitate before contacting someone because I can’t think of what to say I remember that conversation. The perfect words don’t exist. Just send the message.
- I deliver mail in a small town and there is an elderly woman on my route who had not received a real letter in years. She only got bills and junk mail. One December I wrote her a Christmas card and put it in with her mail. She called the post office crying because someone had remembered she had a mailbox. It was not because of what I wrote since I had just said happy holidays. I have written her a card every month since then & she now sits on her porch waiting for me. She does not wait for the card anymore but just to wave at me. That wave is the best part of my entire route.
- My coworker Sandra always ate lunch by herself because that was what she wanted. Everyone else thought this meant she was unfriendly. I never bothered her about it but one day I put a tangerine on her desk since I had more than I needed. She did not say anything. The next day I found a tangerine on my desk. We kept giving fruit to each other without talking about it for seven months. Last week she asked me to have lunch with her. I was the first person she had asked in two years. She told me that I never tried to change her and just gave her a tangerine. That might be the best explanation of true kindness I have ever heard.
- My wife has written a note for my lunch every day for the past 11 years. They are usually simple messages like hoping my meeting goes well or reminding me that I forgot to move the laundry. I have never mentioned this to her but I have saved every single note she has written. In my office closet there is a shoebox that now contains more than five hundred of these notes. Last year when I was having a really bad day I took out the box and started reading through them at random. Those notes showed me the truest example of what it means when someone loves you quietly without turning it into something showy.
- I operate a food truck and one day a teenage boy was two dollars short for his order so I paid the difference. The following day he returned with the two dollars but I told him not to worry about it. The day after that he came back and asked if he could work for an hour to repay the debt. I agreed to let him help out. That happened a year ago and he continues to show up every weekend even though he now has a regular job & does not need the money. His mother told me that he had been having difficulty connecting with people after his father left and that coming to my food truck was what helped him the most. All I did was allow a kid to spend time there. He accomplished everything else on his own.
- A woman brought her late husband’s car to my garage and it was in terrible shape. I could have easily charged her for an expensive engine repair and she would have paid without question. Instead I was honest with her and explained that fixing it would cost more than the car was worth. She started trembling because the monetary value meant nothing to her since it was her husband’s car. I decided to repair it at cost and worked on it throughout the entire weekend. When she arrived to collect the car she sat in the driver’s seat for ten minutes before starting the engine & I realized she was not inspecting my work. She was simply spending time with him one last time. I have never felt better about losing money on a job.
- I teach piano and one of my students was a shy girl named Ada who genuinely was not talented. She could not find the keys and had no natural rhythm but she practiced harder than anyone I had ever taught. After a year she was still not good and her mother asked me honestly whether she should quit. I said that Ada was not learning piano but was learning that she could work hard at something difficult and not give up. Her mother kept her in lessons. Ada is 15 now & still not a strong piano player but she is first in her class at school & runs track and speaks two languages. Her mother called me recently and said that I did not teach her music but taught her she could keep going. It is the best thing anyone has ever said to me about a student.
- My sister lost her baby at thirty five weeks & her husband looked at her in the hospital and said I married you for a son & walked out. I took her in without hesitating. Two months later she vanished and so did every piece of jewellery I owned. I was furious and called her phone over and over. I was ready to say things I could not take back. Then I got a single text that said go to the cemetery. I went and found a small headstone with fresh flowers on it and a name carved into the stone. It was her son’s name and at the bottom were the words I had nothing to bury him with. I stood there and all the fury just left my body completely. She had taken the only thing she could find that had any value because she could not put her child in the ground without something to show for his life. She had been too ashamed and too broken to ask me out loud. I called her back and when she answered I did not say a single word about the jewellery. I just said come home & we will figure out the rest. She came back that evening. I never replaced most of those pieces & I have never once wished I had.
