A Year of Living Kindly: Choices That Will Change Your Life and the World Around You by Donna Cameron. 

4/5 rating. 

Book #128 of 2019. Read November 15, 2019.

As the title of this book suggests, this was brought about by Donna’s commitment to live a year where she really focused on kindness in her life. It was a beautiful, and informative book!

I have always tried to be kind, it is one of the most powerful forces on this earth, and luckily enough for me, something that my parents did an amazing job of teaching to my sister and I. This being said, I will be the first to say that I need some more work on being kind. Actively showing kindness to those around us is hard work!

It is so easy to just sit back, let life happen and speed through it; but to continually be kind means slowing down and focusing on our second-to-second acts: both our thoughts and actions. Do you stop to hold the door? Do you give the gift of a smile to others? Are you improving the lives of those around you?

This book is broken down into 52 short chapters, making it possible to either read the whole book as one, or focus on a chapter a week throughout the year. I thought that it discussed deeply important topics about how to be kind, some of our difficulties in doing it, and more importantly just continually reminded me to focus on kindness to anyone and everyone around me throughout my day.

I love Donna’s quote from William Penn: “I expect to pass through life but once. If, therefore, there be any kindness I can show, or any good thing I can do to any fellow being, let me do it now, and not defer or neglect it, as I shall not pass this way again.” 

I hope that this book will stay with me and continue to impact my life positively. I thoroughly recommend this book to everyone, and hopefully it will bring about a kinder world: something that we need in this fast-paced, yet impersonal world!

Quotes:

“To me, being kind meant knowing at the end of each day that I had helped, that I was offering the best of who I am, and that I had perhaps made a difference. And it also meant spending less time looking for threats or failings and more time recognizing abundance and compassion.”

“‘Kindness. Easy to do. Easy not to do. Choose the latter, no one will notice. Choose the former and lives may change.’ (Julian Bowers Brown)”

“‘We live under the illusion that organizations are “them” when, in reality, they are “us.” If we wish to work in evolved organizations, we must each be the first to start the journey.’ (Lance Secretan)”

“Next time fear stops you, acknowledge the fear and ask yourself what’s the worst that could happen, and then what’s the best that could happen. Focus on the best!”

“‘We become what we love. Whatever you are giving your time and attention to, day after day, is the kind of person you will eventually become.’ (Wayne Muller)”

“The way we live our life is our spiritual practice – no more, no less, nothing but, nothing else.”

“In her lovely book, The Art of Grace, Sarah Kaufman offers the following advice: ‘Be easily pleased. Accept compliments, take a seat on the bus if someone offers it to you, embrace any kindness that comes your way. This is graciousness, and it is a gift for someone else. You are giving another person the gift of being graceful.”

“How often do we devalue the gift of others’ words by refusing their compliments? We deflect kind words about our appearance by saying, ‘No, I look terrible! My hair’s a mess and I really should lose ten pounds, and look, I’ve lost a button this shirt.’ Do you really think they compliment us just to hear us point out all our flaws?”

“A compliment is a gift not to be thrown away carelessly unless you want to hurt the giver.”

“While there’s nothing wrong with grand gestures, a kind life is composed of the myriad ordinary, day-to-day kindnesses that may seem small but accumulate like sand upon the shore.”

“Choosing kindness over fear is an act of extreme courage – even if no one else ever knows or sees what we did.”

“There is no shame in loving, even if the other person doesn’t love me back. There is no shame in asking for help, even if it isn’t given. The weakness is in burying our feelings or denying our need.”

“‘The true essence of humankind is kindness. There are other qualities which come from education or knowledge, but it is essential, if one wishes to be a genuine human being and impart satisfying meaning to one’s existence, to have a good heart.’ (Dalai Lama)”.

“Don’t ever let anyone tell you kindness is weak or it doesn’t make a difference. You know better; you’ve seen its power.”

“‘You may be sorry you spoke, sorry you stayed or went, sorry you won or lost, sorry so much was spent. But as you go through life, you’ll find you’re never sorry you were kind.’ (Herbert Prochnow)”

“The key to true kindness – like the key to true happiness – is managing to maintain our attitude or keep our resolve when all hell is breaking loose.”

“Abraham Lincoln is quoted as having said, ‘I don’t like that man. I must get to know him better.’ What wisdom and self-awareness!”

“If there are people who are cruel to animals and uniformly kind to people, I have not heard of them. Nor had Immanuel Kant, who said, ‘He who is cruel to animals becomes hard also in his dealings with men. We can judge the heart of a man by his treatment of animals.’”

“‘No act of kindness, no matter how small, is ever wasted.’ (Aesop)”

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