Have you ever been moved to tears by acts of kindness? This happens to me all the time and many times I have wondered.
I recently read an article by Daniel Burke, religion editor at CNN, where he wrote about crying at the kindness of the Pope.
He wrote: “I was surprised to find tears in my eyes, accompanied by a brief burst of benevolence. I felt a brief urge to hug everyone in the room. (I’m not one to hug).
“Covering the trail of my tears, I turned to a colleague. He was also moved.”
Burke wondered why this is happening. He discovered that it is quite common and even contagious. Some psychologists have called this emotion “high.” This feeling can not only move us to tears, but it can also prompt us to perform acts of affection with others, because it creates a feeling of oneness with others.
This are very good news!
This is good news because the more we feel a sense of unity with each other, the less we will act in ways that hurt each other. Many of our social problems would be solved if more people felt a sense of oneness with one another, regardless of race, religion, age, gender, sexual orientation, or ethnicity.
I have a Facebook group called “Loving Action Revolution,” and members frequently post videos of beautiful acts of kindness, which have gone viral. Perhaps the reason they go viral is that we’re hungry for the kinds of feelings we get when we’re feeling “high.” I am invariably moved to tears by these videos, as well as the stories of kindness that people offer in this group.
They also offer videos of animals’ kindness to each other, such as a dog taking care of a kitten or a loving relationship between a dog and a deer. I often think: “Are they smarter than us?” They don’t seem to care if they are different colors and different races. They show love regardless of whether the fur is black, white or multicolored. Why do some people judge people by the color of their skin instead of remembering that, on a soul level, we are all one?
We could all benefit from seeing more examples of acts of kindness that move us to a feeling of elevation and oneness with others. What if a major cable TV station showed nothing but inspiring acts of kindness? Certainly, one or more of our planet’s billionaires could create this station and, with enough exposure, we could experience elevation every time we turned on the channel, stimulating our sense of unity and benevolence towards others and the desire to offer more acts of kindness. .
Inspiring love in others
One of the ways that each of us can help our planet is to follow the example of the Pope and offer kindness whenever we can. The fact that we are not the Pope does not mean that our goodness is not appreciated and is not contagious, in terms of the feelings it generates in others. Research indicates that even smiles are contagious.
What if each of us focused throughout the day on offering kindness to ourselves and others, instead of protecting ourselves against pain with our controlling and unloving behavior? Can you imagine how much good each of us can do if we focus on kindness? What if the ‘burst of benevolence’ that Daniel Burke felt were magnified millions of times on our planet, from our individual acts of kindness?
I would love this. You would not do that?