As we quickly approach this holiday season, I often times wonder what it means to live with kindness.

Every year we choose to glorify one day, or one period of time to show kindness towards others.

We buy each other the trinkets and baubles that emit happiness, that make us feel like at least for that one moment that someone knows us and cares. 

To live with kindness though, that’s different entirely. To live with kindness, is an immaterial gift. Putting a hand on a strangers shoulder as they unknowingly walk into traffic. If you live with kindness, it happens without you being aware. Giving advice to those in need, hearing the unsaid words through their actions.

We need to carry this holiday spirit through our lives. Though it is sometimes hard to give a person the kindness something they need, rather than want. How is it that the unwanted bundle of socks, that we received every year, became the staple of the feeling of holiday love growing older. 

The loss of that as we ventured off into our lives, dreams, ambitions and lessons, becomes the feeling of passing that same gift to those we love. 

A kind word, a kind deed, not money, but time. 

Money is a valuable resource, but not as valuable as the precious time we are allotted to us to enjoy this beautiful place. We get caught up in career, family, self growth, and we neglect all the opportunities we pass up on a daily basis. 

How many times have we seen something to helped with, but didn’t have the time.? How many times have we wished to hear the perfect phrase to get out of our “slump.” Not someone we know, but a stranger, that movie moment when the world turns around. 

Imagine eight billion people suddenly putting aside a fraction of their time to help a stranger. Not to fill their coffer or bulge their wallet.  

Simply spending a bit of time making someone else’s life better.

I don’t volunteer my time and in my line of work the amount of time I spend on a problem, is directly proportionate to the nature of the problem.

It is not my job to pass on my knowledge to another person. To share my personal experiences to help my fellow man to succeed. The way I see it, If I can help a person lead a happier life by my example, and my failures, I mind as well.

I’d much rather a society of happy people, enjoying life and fulfilling others because they are fulfilled. The alternative is a society full of those that choose to live primarily for themselves.

In short I believe the meaning of the holidays is the sense of communion, of brotherhood. It should be extended all year round. To some, this period is a celebration of a life lived by a person who believed in the miracles and power within every one of us. 

To achieve everything and anything we ever dreamed, to give selflessly. The time we have here is short.  But in my time here the greatest joy I’ve experienced is the joy I feel when others are fulfilled. When they don’t have to worry, where there burdens are shed briefly. As though an unseen hand lifted them for a moment, not to point out that they fell, but that there will always be someone there to pick us up.

We can be that hand. Every day of our life if you choose. But as is the gift and curse of our free will, it is our own choice. 

Be that as it may, I believe that if we all lived with kindness—spent a few moments every day thinking about how our actions affect others—the world would change. 

We are a leaders. How we live our lives, affects how others live theirs. 

A small interaction at a grocery store could be exactly what that mother needed to pull through for another day. One time I paid for the groceries of that guy in front of me, because he left his wallet at home. I felt like I did a good job. I

t’s these kinds of things that can save a life. We may never know, but what does it matter. That feeling we get from helping others—the warm fuzzies that make us smile from the inside out. That is what matters.

We’re global now ladies and gentlemen. The laptop you’re typing on, took thousands of people to get to you.The car, the house you live in. Everything we enjoy is a culmination of every other person in existence right now. It’s mind boggling. 

It’s like the vastness of the universe. So, why do harm anymore. Whether it be your neighbour or someone distant we’ve never met. We all deserve the best, we all deserve the finest food and the best cars. We deserve all the bounties this world has to offer. 

We shouldn’t need to “buy” it, it’s free, it’s in the air we’ve been breathing and the ground that sows the seeds of the things we eat. 

We have to stop the sense of ownership. As we learn from the Pharaohs of Egypt and those who have hoarded their wealth. 

What good does wealth do us in the after life? The most memorable moments of our species are the great destruction we are capable of bringing and the lights that shine brightest in the dark.

The pioneers of creative thought and those who inspired the betterment of mankind. We need not take up arms. We need take each others hands and raise our arms in unity and for the good we are capable to achieve, together. 

It all begins with kindness.

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Author: Mathias Dahling

Editor: Ashleigh Hitchcock

Photo: flickr