BE KIND AND GENTLE

My cousin recently had a baby and I thought about how kind and gentle everyone is around little ones.  The largest and strongest hands often cradle the little one in the gentlest way. Ah, wouldn’t it be wonderful if we all treated one another, all the time, in the gentlest, kindest of ways?

Gentleness – the quality of being kind, tender, or mild-mannered.  It is being respectful and loving toward all things.  Wayne Dyer, author and speaker in the field of self-development, tells us to “Practice being gentle, respectful, and loving toward all things. Remind yourself that your efforts do make a difference, even if you think they are miniscule in comparison to the magnitude of the problem.” 

We all have the ability to be “gentle souls;” those individuals who are consistently respectful and loving toward all things.  Those individuals who:

• Are respectful; show empathy and regard for the personal dignity, feelings, wishes, traditions of others.

• Are considerate of others’ needs and feelings.

• Provide encouragement; give support or hope.

• Show compassion; feel for someone’s situation and feel motivated to do something about it.

• Are sensitive in actions, with words, and in thoughts.

• Demonstrate patience no matter how challenging the situation.

• Are tolerant; understand and accept the different ideals and beliefs of others.

• Listen, just listen.

• Remain calm, cool, and collected in the most challenging of situations.

• Lend a helping hand to those in need.

• Put others at ease; make them comfortable.

• Demonstrate positivity; approach situations in a positive, optimistic manner.

• Seek solutions by finding common ground.

• Respond with genuine care and concern.

• Remain true to core values and use them to guide actions.

• Are responsive (rationally driven) instead of reactive (emotionally driven).

• Connect on a deep emotional level with others and respond with kindness.

Gentleness matters.  Kindness matters.  We should all strive to treat others in the same way that most handle newborns and little ones – in the gentlest, kindest of ways.  Whether we extend gentleness and kindness in small or big ways, it always makes a huge difference.  Author L.R. Knost said, “Do not underestimate the power of gentleness.  Gentleness is strength wrapped in peace and therein lies the power to change the world.” 

Even if we just changed our little corners of the world imagine what a better place it would be.  South African Anglican cleric and theologian, known for his work as an anti-apartheid and human rights activist Desmond Tutu tells us, “Do your little bit of good where you are; it’s those little bits of good put together that overwhelm the world.”  

When we choose to be “gentle souls,” we begin to do “little bits of good” and in doing so, we change everything for the better.  Therefore, we all need to do whatever we can to change our small corner of the world for the better.  We can begin to change our small corners of the world by practicing as much kindness and gentleness as we can and in doing so, we will certainly make others feel better about themselves, comforted, supported, and hopeful.  We can make a POSITIVE difference for ourselves and the lives of others.

PRACTICING GENTLENESS

I am so blessed to have a bald eagle family residing on my property.   The adults have built a nest in the tree line which is about 300 yards from the house and visible from many rooms in the house.  Getting a first-hand look at the day-to-day activities of these magnificent birds is amazing.  This eagle family provided the inspiration for this week’s post on gentleness.  We might not associate gentleness with this large bird of prey, but when I watch the adults interact with their eaglets, gentle definitely describes their actions, especially when the eaglets are only weeks old. 

The above picture shows momma Joy getting ready to feed this year’s one week old eaglets, Harmony and Serenity.  With the eaglets so little, when Joy walks in the nest she does so with the gentlest of steps.  Her feet and talons have the capacity of squishing a little one but moving in a tender and mild-mannered way, she avoids bringing any harm to her little ones.

Watching momma Joy and poppa Hope with their young ones got me to thinking that if they have the capacity to be gentle so do we.  Right now there is just too much inhumanity going on in our world.  I long for a world where gentleness is the norm rather than the exception. 

So what is gentleness?  Basically, it is the quality of being kind, tender, or mild-mannered.  It is being respectful and loving toward all things.  Wayne Dyer, author and speaker in the field of self-development, tell us to “Practice being gentle, respectful, and loving toward all things. Remind yourself that your efforts do make a difference, even if you think they are miniscule in comparison to the magnitude of the problem.” 

When we practice gentleness, we:

• Show compassion; we feel for someone’s situation and we feel motivated to do something about it.

• Are tolerant; we understand and accept the different ideals and beliefs of others.

• Are respectful; we show regard for the personal dignity, feelings, wishes, and traditions of others.

• Are sensitive in our actions, with our words, and in our thoughts.

• Provide encouragement; we give support or hope.

• Remain true to our core values and use them to guide our actions.

• Are responsive (rationally driven) instead of reactive (emotionally driven).

• Put others at ease; we make them comfortable in our presence.

• Lend a helping hand to those in need.

• Listen, just listen.

• Connect on a deep emotional level with others and respond with kindness.

• Respond with genuine care and concern.

• Demonstrate positivity; we approach situations in a positive, optimistic manner.

• Remain calm, cool, and collected in the most challenging of situations.

When we practice gentleness, we change everything around us for the better.  Mahatma Gandhi (Indian lawyer, anti-colonial nationalist and political ethicist) said, “In a gentle way, you can shake the world.”  Well, the world needs some serious shaking right now.  We all need to do whatever we can to change our small corner of the world for the better.  Let’s work to shake our small corners of the world by practicing as much gentleness as we can and in our gentle ways, let’s make others feel better about themselves, comforted, supported, and hopeful.  Let’s start a ripple effect of gentleness!