From "The Force of Kindness: Change your life with love and compassion" by Sharon Salzberg:

We must learn to view the fact that we have negative feelings not as an irreversible personal defect or as some kind of portentous setback on our path to liberation, but simply as the result of conditioned habits of mind. We can hold both a vision of our heart's objective and a compassionate acknowledgment of whatever truth is manifesting in the present moment.

Even the Dalai Lama says about himself, "I don't know why people like me so much." And then he says, "It must be because I try to be compassionate, to have bodhicitta, that aspiration of compassion: ' Bodhidtta is the bedrock of Tibetan Buddhism, a wish for the happiness, welfare, and freedom from suffering for all beings everywhere, along with the commitment to work toward that end. Notably, even the Dalai Lama doesn't claim complete success; he claims a dedication to really trying.

Ways of Increasing the Force of Kindness in Your Life

Reflect on someone in your life who has reached out to you in kindness--how do you regard him or her? ·

Notice how the mood of someone in a chance encounter--such as the checkout person in the supermarket, or a bank teller--affects you. ·

Think about your degree of confidence in yourself. What factors have helped enhance it or decrease it? ·

Reflect on why kindness might be considered a force instead of a weakness. ·

Make. the effort to thank someone each day. Notice what is created between you and the other person in that way.

Reflect on who you admire in life, and why.