Much more often than I would like to comfortably admit, I have been noticing that I need to remind myself that kindness and compassion are the avenues to living a life of greater fulfillment. It is really easy to give negative feelings more control than they should have in our lives. While it is healthy to feel the stronger negative emotions of anger, rage, and revenge when they arise, the issue is born when those emotions become a lifestyle. Acknowledging and accepting when we feel negative is important to do; the growth from the situation commences when we figure out how to handle the time we feel negative.

Doing so is incredibly difficult.

It's much easier to stay rooted in these deeply negative feelings; however, when we actually release the negativity and choose to live a life of kindness and compassion, our lives actually get easier. Why is this? I'm not quite sure.

Yet, what I am sure about is that I needed this reminder. On days when I feel that taking the revengeful route is the only option, I pause and take a step back from the situation to ask myself a super important question:

Are my actions creating a kind and compassionate environment for myself and others?

If both parties involved with that question are not being treated with a kind and compassionate intent, then the pursuit of your actions should be halted immediately. Everyone already has so much going on living in this capacious world; some of those things are visible and known to the public and some are not. Regardless, with handling challenges, large and minuscule, we are all exposed to enough hardship. Why, then, do we not strive to decrease the stress of the world by greeting everyone with empathy? Oftentimes, when we are wronged, which unfortunately happens more frequently than ideal, we react by emitting that same type of negative energy into the world.

The vicious cycle of negativity emerges and is so easy to find ourselves caught up in. While it feels horrible to be the victim of ill-will, it feels even worse to inflict that pain on others. Moreover, if we understand the pain firsthand, then why would we want to continue that feeling for others to endure? The answer of revenge may feel good at the moment, but it ultimately propels this cycle to continue and it's truly exhausting. It is so much easier to greet the world with kindness because even if it wasn't received well on the surface level by the target audience, at least you can still feel good about sending positive energy to somebody who needed it the most.

However, it can be challenging to always remember to do this, and sometimes it is even more important to know when it is appropriate to do so.

Yet, meeting difficult challenges with a kind and compassionate curiosity is most likely always appropriate and will yield the most effective results for your personal and professional connections. Give it try and see.