{"id":375,"date":"2016-11-18T04:04:40","date_gmt":"2016-11-18T04:04:40","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/yourmorningcupofinspiration\/?p=375"},"modified":"2017-02-10T02:38:11","modified_gmt":"2017-02-10T02:38:11","slug":"choosing-to-be-good","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/yourmorningcupofinspiration\/2016\/11\/choosing-to-be-good.html","title":{"rendered":"Choosing to Do Good"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"flower<\/a><\/p>\n

Every moment of every day, we are faced with this simple choice: to do good or to do evil. We all know what good and evil are.\u00a0 I don\u2019t care what religion, political party or culture you come from, human beings innately know the difference between good (being loving, kind and compassionate toward others) and evil (using, abusing and hurting others).\u00a0 While people will use religion and culture to justify evil behavior, that doesn\u2019t make their behavior any less evil.<\/p>\n

The only way to truly be happy is to train yourself to do good as often as you possibly can. The problem is that doing good is sometimes hard.\u00a0 For instance, there are some people I would prefer not to deal with.\u00a0 These people may be crass or loud or otherwise annoying.\u00a0 But to be a good person, I have to interact kindly with these people.\u00a0 I can\u2019t avoid them or be rude to them.\u00a0 And sometimes I don\u2019t feel like going the extra mile for others.\u00a0 I\u2019m either tired, or I just would prefer to sit and read a good book with my free time.\u00a0 But part of doing good in this world is serving others.\u00a0 So doing good isn\u2019t always convenient.\u00a0 Or fun.<\/p>\n

But the payback for regularly doing good is that you become a better person. We are what we do on a consistent basis.\u00a0 We don\u2019t become better individuals simply by making one good choice.\u00a0 So if I choose to be habitually snotty and rude, then I am a snotty and rude person.\u00a0 That is true, even if I occasionally am nice.\u00a0 Conversely, if I choose to be kind and generous most of the time, then I am a kind and generous person.<\/p>\n

There is a snowball effect to doing good. The kinder I am each day, the better I become as a person.\u00a0 And when I am kind, my world improves.\u00a0 I have fewer conflicts with others.\u00a0 People respond more positively to me, so I have more friends.\u00a0 And typically, people want to help nice people, so I have more opportunities.\u00a0 Most importantly, when I look in the mirror in the morning, I like the person who is staring back at me.<\/p>\n

The challenge for many of us is that we don\u2019t like to think in terms of good and evil. We like to delve into the various shades of gray when we assess our choices.\u00a0 \u201cWell, if she didn\u2019t do X, then I wouldn\u2019t have done Y.\u201d\u00a0 Or, \u201cI was tired\/overwhelmed\/hungry, so that is why I was rude and disrespectful.\u201d\u00a0 Or, \u201cI\u2019m unhappy, so I made bad choices that hurt people.\u201d\u00a0 The best thing you can do for yourself is to take a \u201cno excuses\u201d approach to your behavior and hold yourself accountable.\u00a0 Your behavior is either right or wrong.\u00a0 The context is irrelevant.<\/p>\n

It is worth it to periodically asses your behavior. Ask yourself, \u201cAm I choosing to do good at every opportunity?\u201d\u00a0 \u201cDo I treat others with gentleness and respect?\u201d\u00a0 \u201cAm I trustworthy?\u201d\u00a0 \u201cDo I go the extra mile for others?\u201d\u00a0 Scrutinize your behavior.\u00a0 Life is short.\u00a0 At the end, you will want to be able to look back and say, \u201cIn my life, I chose to do good.\u201d<\/p>\n

(Photo Courtesy of Pexels)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Every moment of every day, we are faced with this simple choice: to do good or to do evil. We all know what good and evil are.\u00a0 I don\u2019t care what religion, political party or culture you come from, human beings innately know the difference between good (being loving, kind and compassionate toward others) and…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":593,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[11],"class_list":["post-375","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-doing-good"],"yoast_head":"\nChoosing to Do Good - Your Morning Cup of Inspiration<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/yourmorningcupofinspiration\/2016\/11\/choosing-to-be-good.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Choosing to Do Good - Your Morning Cup of Inspiration\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Every moment of every day, we are faced with this simple choice: to do good or to do evil. 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