Practice Kindness

I came across a quote this afternoon:

Practice hope. As hopefulness becomes a habit, you can achieve a permanently happy spirit.
Norman Vincent Peale

These days I am absolutely practicing hope. But it made me think about practicing kindness. Dakbands help us to practice kindness, to make kindness a habit, so that our character - the essence of who we are - becomes kind. I believe that kindness is the key to a happy spirit because it restores peace, both to ourselves and for those to whom we are kind. It replaces pettiness, criticalness, cynicism, jealousy and a myriad of other damaging behavior choices. Hopefulness helps us to achieve an optimistic spirit, which, according to researchers, promotes happiness. This is true. But hopefulness in itself, even if it becomes part of our character, a habit, does nothing for others. So, if you have to practice, practice kindness first. I think you'll find that hope follows.