REFLECTION: As a way of celebrating the season of light and winding up each year on a thoughtful note, I’ve ended several years of Pause messages with reflections on one key word.  Peace, joy, love, hope and grace have all taken their turns in the spotlight.

This year, the word kindness springs to mind. Throughout 2010, I have experienced many kindnesses – large and small. I hope that has been the case in your world, too.

May these thoughts on kindness light a candle of compassion in us all – bringing a warmth and generosity of spirit that burns brightly through the end of the year and long into 2011.

Wishing you all the best from my family to yours.

Kindly and paus-atively yours, Pat

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Kindness is never wasted. If it has no effect on the recipient, at least it benefits the bestower. – S. H. Simmons

You cannot do a kindness too soon, for you never know how soon it will be too late. – Ralph Waldo Emerson

One kind word can warm three winter months. – Japanese proverb

Today I bent the truth to be kind, and I have no regret, for I am far surer of what is kind than I am of what is true. – Robert Braul

Kindness is the language which the deaf can hear and the blind can see. – Mark Twain

Wherever there is a human being, there is an opportunity for a kindness. – Seneca

The best portion of a good man’s life – his little, nameless, unremembered acts of kindness and love. – William Wordsworth

Forget injuries; never forget kindness. – Confucious

Be kind, for everyone you meet is fighting a hard battle. – Plato

Let no one ever come to you without leaving better and happier. Be the living expression of God’s kindness: kindness in your face, kindness in your eyes, kindness in your smile. – Mother Teresa

I expect to pass through life but once.  If therefore, there be any kindness I can show, or any good thing I can do to any fellow being, let me do it now, and not defer or neglect it, as I shall not pass this way again. – William Penn

Kindness in words creates confidence. Kindness in thinking creates profoundness. Kindness in giving creates love. – Lao Tzu

Be generous with kindly words, especially about those who are absent. – Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

Kindness is the essence of greatness and the fundamental characteristic of the noblest men and women I have known. Kindness is a passport that opens doors and fashions friends. It softens hearts and molds relationships that can last lifetimes. – Joseph B. Wirthlin

A warm smile is the universal language of kindness. – William Arthur Ward

And as I’ve gotten older, I’ve had more of a tendency to look for people who live by kindness, tolerance, compassion, a gentler way of looking at things. – Martin Scorsese

It is a bit embarrassing to have been concerned with the human problem all one’s life and find at the end that one has no more to offer by way of advice than ‘try to be a little kinder’. – Aldous Huxley

Ask yourself: Have you been kind today? Make kindness your daily modus operandi and change your world. – Annie Lennox