Kindness and Honesty

"...often, strange as it might seem, we hide those very aspects: our tenderness, goodwill, original thoughts, our capacity for being moved. We do this partly out of a sense of reserve: We don't want to overwhelm others with our gushing emotions. But mostly we do it to protect ourselves. We don't want others to see us like that. We would feel weak, exposed, perhaps ridiculous. Better to appear a bit cynical, even hard, or, at the very least not so dangerously open. In that way, however, we separate from the most spiritual and beautiful part of ourselves - and prevent others from seeing it.....in that moment I realized how weak and awkward we are when we try to hide our feelings. And how important it is, within limits of tact and good taste, to be honest and freely show who we are and what we feel."
Piero Ferrucci, The power of Kindness, pp. 24-25

Honesty allied with kindness is simple, but not easy.

For many of us it is easier to be kind to others, or at least to do what others ask of us in the name of kindness, than it is to determine how to be kind to ourselves (honesty) and then act on that without external permission or validation (kindness).

This is post 68 of 100 posts in 100 days.
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