Kindness as a Gateway
By Silver Rose
Kindness as a Gateway
to
Attracting What You Want
I watched Dr. Wayne Dyer on PBS last night conducting his new workshop on the topic of intention. By the way, his work parallels mine completely and I strongly encourage you to take advantage of any opportunity to see him or read his books.
Wayne gave some information that will probably not surprise you but which you may find intriguing, as I did. He said that studies have shown that when a person receives a kindness, their serotonin levels go up. Seratonin is a hormone that acts as a natural tranquilizer and gives us a feeling of well being. According to Dr. Daniel Amen in his book, Change Your Brain, Change Your Life, “Depression, according to the simple bio-chemical model, is due to a lack of serotonin.”
Not only does the serotonin increase for the person receiving the kindness but it also increases for the person extending the kindness. It gets even better. If you witness a kindness, your serotonin level goes up, as well. It seems the old adage, “A good deed is a reward unto itself,” is true.
When you combine this information with the universal Law of Attraction which says, “You attract what you focus on,” it becomes very powerful to both extend kindness and to look for it in the world.
I started to think about this in the context of my own life. One of the phenomena I’ve been wrestling with since the death of an elderly relative two years ago is just how much I miss the act of caring for her and also for my two foster daughters who were with me at the time. It was hard work. There were many sleepless nights. There was economic deprivation. And yet, when I look back on that time, I was happier than I’ve ever been. I’ve often questioned why and certainly I had some ideas. I knew it had something to do with being of service. I understood that I was too busy to indulge in feeling sorry for myself. And I felt proud of what I was doing.
When I heard Dyer explain about the link between kindness and serotonin, it all made sense to me. Not only was I increasing my own serotonin by being kind to my loved ones but I was increasing theirs, as well. In turn, they were kind to me, creating a reciprocal effect. Additionally, I witnessed many people outside the immediate family who were kind to us all and it often brought tears of gratitude to my eyes.
I now see kindness as a gateway to attracting what you want. You see, the only reason we want what we want is because we think it will make us feel good to have it. Because of the way the Law of Attraction works, you cannot attract something that will make you feel good if you are feeling bad. There is simply no match; opposites do NOT attract, no matter how you try. Therefore, in order to attract whatever you want, it is imperative that you stay in a good mood as much as possible. It seems one of the easier ways to do that is to practice kindness and to look for kindness in the world. Your serotonin will naturally increase, you’ll feel good and you will begin attracting even more of what will make you feel good.
Indeed, when I was taking care of others, more of the things I wanted were coming my way. Now that I have all the time in the world to think about ME and MY needs, less of what I want is showing up. I knew it was the Law of Attraction at work but I was struggling for how to turn it around. Now I see the simple answer.
By the way, I want to ensure that kind acts include being kind to yourself. No matter how kindly you are to others, if you are internally “beating yourself up,” it won’t work. You must also practice random acts of kindness when practicing self-care. In fact, it is much easier to be kind to others when you are kind to yourself as a regular practice.
This week, make it your job to practice kindnesses. And watch the magic happen.
Silver
