What are we in search of really? Wealth? Fame? Love? Power?
Well, all of these, surely. But finally, we hunt for all these in the hope that they will give us that elusive entity called happiness. Which takes us to the question: What is happiness? I don't know what the dictionaries say, but I would describe it as something that makes us feel good inside. To put it in a nutshell, we are in an eternal quest for internal fulfillment. When we say we like someone, it means that that person has made us feel good about ourselves. The reverse is true. I remember reading the following quotation that went somewhat like this- " It's easy to be nice when others are nice. But to be nice when someone is not, is REALLY nice!'
Niceness takes the form of helping others, of course, and saying kind words. But beyond all this, niceness is, I feel, recognising that the other man is also a fellow human is as such, is entitled to be treated with respect.Whatever be his station in life. You can get angry and still be nice, provided you attack the issue and not the person. I have often found that superiors who are nice get more work done by the simple tactic of whole heartedly praising every effort of their subordinates. 'I can live a whole day on a compliment' went a title in an old issue of the Readers' Digest. When we are praised, we feel good about ourselves. That naturally prompts us to attempt further work in the hope of more appreciation.
So let us all think about being nice even when forced to be critical or reactive. Let words like empathy, consideration and humaneness come into our vocabulary and ... into our lives.
Well, all of these, surely. But finally, we hunt for all these in the hope that they will give us that elusive entity called happiness. Which takes us to the question: What is happiness? I don't know what the dictionaries say, but I would describe it as something that makes us feel good inside. To put it in a nutshell, we are in an eternal quest for internal fulfillment. When we say we like someone, it means that that person has made us feel good about ourselves. The reverse is true. I remember reading the following quotation that went somewhat like this- " It's easy to be nice when others are nice. But to be nice when someone is not, is REALLY nice!'
Niceness takes the form of helping others, of course, and saying kind words. But beyond all this, niceness is, I feel, recognising that the other man is also a fellow human is as such, is entitled to be treated with respect.Whatever be his station in life. You can get angry and still be nice, provided you attack the issue and not the person. I have often found that superiors who are nice get more work done by the simple tactic of whole heartedly praising every effort of their subordinates. 'I can live a whole day on a compliment' went a title in an old issue of the Readers' Digest. When we are praised, we feel good about ourselves. That naturally prompts us to attempt further work in the hope of more appreciation.
So let us all think about being nice even when forced to be critical or reactive. Let words like empathy, consideration and humaneness come into our vocabulary and ... into our lives.
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