Unfailingly Kind

I find that it is very hard to keep to some commitments.  For example, I have the commitment that I desire to be unfailingly kind to all living creatures.  A lot to bit off I know.  Yet, most of the time this is an easy thing to do.  You say good morning to the people you meet, wish them a good day, even thing good thoughts and be kind to those that cut you off in traffic.  Not too hard. 

However, being unfailingly kind also means to be intentionally kind when you don't feel like being kind.  I found that sometimes, what I want to do is to get rid of something that is bothering me.  The easiest way that I learned how to do this is to push it away.  Pushing away means distancing.  Through thoughts, words, physical action, somehow I want to get away from whatever this is that is bothering me.  Doesn't quite fit into the being unfailingly kind does it?

To take a humorous example, I don't like insects that fly around me in my car, or in my office.  A lot of the time I find that I spend an inordinate amount of effort into killing these flying things.  I will roll up a magazine and chase an insect around my house, just to kill it.  In my car, I roll down the window and the insect goes everywhere but out the window.  Then I get frustrated and I will try to swat it with my hand, sometimes not paying attention to the road.  When I finally kill it I have this sense of satisfaction, and relief that I no longer have to be bothered by it. 

Now you might say, what does a flying insect have to do with being kind to every living thing?  Well, it is a living thing.   If I take the attitude that it is only an insect, then I am conditioning my thinking, and may be more predisposed to chasing away or hitting someone verbally because I feel they are a nuisance in my life. 

I do this.  I can recall when someone was bothering me so I made an unkind remark to them.  Or sometimes I just ignored them until they went away.  With some people, I talked over them, because what they said was bothering me.  It all adds up to failing to be kind. 

As I am writing this, I have a few gnats that have somehow entered my office.  They are bothering me.  I want to kill them.  I want to squash them.  But.... I just put Deep Woods Off to use.  Now I may smell chemically for the next couple of hours, but at least I don't have to kill the gnats.   They are leaving me alone.   At least it is a step in the direction of being unfailingly kind!