Kindness & Confusion

I heard from several of you after my last post concerning pleasure and desire, apparently it caused some confusion.... WONDERFUL! Confusion is a place of opening to learning! Desire with attachment to outcome will bring suffering, if we're able to have desires but are free from clinging to the outcome, we're good. This is a householder's life, none of us reading this are renunciates! So we need to get skillful in setting our compass but not being dramatic when we're blown off course, we'll get to some other destination we never even imagined possible when we’re not clinging to an imagined future outcome.

Sharing the following today, essentially concerning Dharma and Karma Yoga...

Three Kinds of Kindness from Seth Godin's blog today, on the day the USA celebrates Dr Martin Luther King:

There is the kindness of ‘please’ and ‘thank you.’ And the kindness of “I was wrong, I’m sorry.” The small kindnesses that smooth our interactions and help other people feel as though you’re aware of them. These don’t cost us much, in fact, in most settings, engaging with kindness is an essential part of connection, engagement and forward motion.

And then there is the kindness of dignity. Of giving someone the benefit of the doubt. The kindness of seeing someone for the person that they are and can become, and the realization that everyone, including me and you, has a noise in our heads, a story to be told, fear to be danced with and dreams to be realized.

And there’s another: The kindness of not seeking to maximize short-term personal gain. The kindness of building something for the community, of doing work that matters, of finding a resilient, anti-selfish path forward.

Kindness isn’t always easy or obvious, because the urgent race to the bottom, to easily measured metrics and to scarcity, can distract us. But bending the arc toward justice, toward dignity and toward connection is our best way forward.

Kindness multiplies and it enables possiblity. When we’re of service to people, we have the chance to make things better.

Happy Birthday, Reverend King.

Thank you for reading. Hope to see you soonest