If we all wished for others what we wished for ourselves, how much more beautiful would the world be? If we made sure that each action we did was out of deep care for ourselves and others, how much joy could we all bring to the world? How much closer can we get to the divine that acting in a compassionate way that recognised all beings as one?

Some cynically argue that any kind of caring or altruism is self-interest because it comes back at us in kind. However, I don’t see the negative in that – surely, if we are careful as we act throughout our lives, extending loving kindness and compassion to all beings, then that’s going to come back to us too, and that’s a win win for all?

@eco-alex wrote a beautiful post on kindness this week for his response to the Eco-train question of the week, and I’ve been thinking about that a lot as I’ve been musing on this concept of extending kindness to all and the positivity and joy it brings to our lives.

I’m not sure if it’s because I’ve been focussing on it that I’ve been showered with kindness this week, but in this post I’d love to give thanks for the lovely little things I’m hella grateful for. It’s funny, when we start listing and writing them down, we end up with a lot more positives in our week than negatives!

So, in the spirit of gratitude for kindness, I'd like to acknowledge:

• The new pharmacist in my town who showed such care when I was in tears due to back pain. He made sure he gave me his utmost attention, and gave me a free ice pack and a big hug! Which, of course, made me cry more, and laugh at my silliness, but I sure hope that guy sticks around – he’s the kindest chemist I’ve ever met in my life!
• The barrista at the café on our mini holiday who, being out of soya milk, said he’d be happy to heat up the coconut milk we had in our van, no trouble at all.
• One of the yoga teachers in my studio who knew I was suffering from said back pain, and came over to give me a shoulder rub in seated meditation
• My students moving beyond teen self-centreness to ask how my back pain was
• A neighbour dropping me off some home-made marmalade because she knew I loved it, and my citrus were killed in the frost last year
• @digitaldan randomly throwing my name in the #steembasicincome pool on Steemit
• @holisticmum messaging me on Discord to find out how my romantic weekend was, even though she was going through a tough time
• @mrprofessor for just being generally super nice all the time

It got me thinking that there’s a lot more kindnesses in the world than we realise. Surely the vast majority of us wish for others what we’d wish for ourselves. I’m convinced that most of us know that we’re more alike than we realise because we know that if it happened to us, we’d be happy – and thus it feels good to ‘pay it forward’ with small gestures that impact the people around them.

The mantra “Lokah Samastah Sukhino Bhavantu” has also been a big part of my thinking this week because it fits in with this idea of loving kindness and the actions we take in our own lives. It’s meaning translates to:

“May all beings everywhere be happy and free, and may the thoughts, words, and actions of my own life contribute in some way to that happiness and to that freedom for all.”

This is a really beautiful and meditative version of this mantra if you'd like to listen and meditate:

Lokah

This sound encompasses all universes right now. That means the blessing even goes to the cosmic realms! Therefore this mantra blesses all creatures on the planet, those close to us such as our families, and much wider than just a planetary scope. It encompasses animals, trees, insects - all the living beings on this world and everything in the entire universe. All of it. I love the way my tribes on Steemit show such reverence and respect for life in their posts and actions in the world - I'm grateful for them, for sure!

Samastah

This sound takes us away from the idea we’re all separate individuals. If I can embrace this concept, then every action I take is with the premise that if I act with care and love, then I’m easing that pain in others and therefore myself. If I want blessings of abundance on myself, then surely I wish them on others too.

It’s only when we realise that we’re all part of a greater whole or ‘one’ that we act more sincerely to be compassionate, caring and kind to others. If we realise that these kindnesses can impact others, we also must realise that unkindness does – and the natural result of this can only be the default compassion that we all carry in our hearts because we surely don’t want the unkindnesses to come back onto us either! We are all one beating heart.

Suhkino

This means freedom. We have all a right to find joy, so we have to be conscious about whether our actions limit the freedoms of others. We’ve got to take responsibility for our own karma and to act from a place of greater love. You can’t just chant and then go and gossip or badmouth or be mean to someone – you have to take out that understanding into daily action so you don’t limit the freedoms of others. This brings us closer to the Divine because we are being divine beings in our actions.

Bhav

This is all about the sound – bhav is about pure love, our purest state of being. If we’re all part of this divinity, which is pure love, then by chanting and reflecting on this mantra we’re realising we are co-creating the world we want to live in. We can start to create change, peace and stability.

I'm super grateful for mantra to giving me access to these meditations and philosophies, and helping me embrace the idea of love, divinity and compassion in my life.

This post is really about gratitude for those that have acted out of this natural, instinctive loving kindness over my week. There’s a sense that by caring for me, you’ve understood the impact that it could have, and you understand the need to extend your actions beyond merely caring for your own self-interest. Whether you knew you were doing it or not, you made the world a better place.

I only hope that the actions of my own life contribute in some way to your own happiness and freedoms.

Antu

Means let it be so --- so, let it be so!

With much love and gratitude

I was tagged by @canadianrenegade to:

Write a post about something you have to be positive about today - this could be anything from being thankful for your current situation, someone being nice to you, being thankful for your friends and family, or even being thankful for the opportunity you have been given here on Steemit - just keep it positive :)

• Do this for 7 days in a row if you get nominated.
• Mention three people who should do this on each day.
• Tag it with #7daypositivitychallenge and include these rules at the bottom of your post Include a picture of something positive (related to your story if possible.)
• Tip: You need to put the # in front of 7daypositivitychallenge or it will not let you use the tag.

Sorry if you've been tagged before in this challenge @celestialcow @ydraz @sue-stevenson - please don't feel obligated, but you've been tagged!

I'm also totally honoured to be a passenger on the #ecotrain - check out this hashtag for some pretty amazing posts permaculture to meditation, environmental issues to food forests - I highly recommend checking out this tag as you're guaranteed of sweeeetness!

Plus, I'm super excited and honoured to be part of @tribesteemup - a heap of amazing crew who all post quality posts about helping the Earth and humanity and generally making the world a better place. You should definitely check out the #tribesteemup trail to find some quality writing.