by William Bartholomew

Created on: March 06, 2009   Last Updated: March 26, 2009

Don't go around being mean all day, besides there can be real benefits to being nice. It is generally thought that you should be kind and helpful but never expect anything positive in return. Simply said, you should simply do nice things out of the kindness of your heart.

Some people subscribe to a "pay it forward" type of belief. Basically one act of kindness has the ability to spur other acts of kindness and eventually the good deed will come full circle. You usually would have no way to realize if something you did actually brought something good back to you but sometimes you can see the reward. In my business I sometimes see those rewards when I take the time to go that extra step for one of my customers and sometime in the future I will get an order from a new customer that was referred by the person I went out of my way to help.

Another popular school of thought is the belief in "karma". Basically, all the good and bad you do is basically combined to an overall rating of sorts. Those who practice being kind and doing good things for others are said to have "good karma" while those who are rotten and nasty have "bad karma". With karma one event does not have to be directly related to another. With karma one event does not have to be directly related to another. For instance there's a game called Fallout that, amoung other things, takes karma into account. So, if you attack a dog or a child in one city then a merchant may not sell to you in another city. In this scenario there is no direct link from one event to the next you simply suffer the consequences of bad karma. In a nutshell good things will happen for those who do good things and bad things will happen to those who do bad things.

In the past I've wondered how people who are so kind and generous can be so different from me but, eventually I realized that the good feeling you get from be kind or helpful is enough to make you want to do it again. By committing random acts of kindness you will inevitably feel good about yourself. Your good mood itself will radiate from you and touch other people in a positive way. When you beam with positive energy other people will want to do good things for you and that alone can complete the circle. There are people who claim to be able to actually see an aura (colored glow, if you will) around other people. The belief is that different moods and personality traits will show through in the aura that is around you.

There is a common belief that your mood can greatly affect your physical well being. You often hear stories about people who faced a life threatening illness with a positive resolve and managed to beat the odds and get better. Now if you are looking for a more direct approach to a physical benefit for being kind then you might consider doing things that require some physical labor. Maybe you could start by mowing the lawn for an elderly neighbor who could really use the help or enter a walk-a-thon or similar event that will benefit charity. My sister has started training for a 1/2 marathon as a means to improve her overall health and to help a worthy cause as well. It shouldn't be viewed as negative to actually receive some sort of benefit by being kind. There is a bit of a stigma attached to the concept of benefiting from acts of kindness but, i submit that more people would do more kind things if they were simply allowed to realize that it is okay to actually get something in return.

Take the time to do some nice things, be kind to other people and don't feel bad or guilty if you actually get a little something in return. It is okay to be appreciated or reap some other reward for the good things you do.

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