It Is Not An Easy Thing

I had just finished the Letters of the Earl of Rochester, which had one letter stand out. He is mostly known for writing obscene poetry and his libertine ways, but I see him as a deeply flawed human who was just looking for something good, which he didn't seem to find. He rarely wrote the date on the letters, so most of the dating is by guesstimation, but it made sense to me. He wrote, "'Tis not an easy thing to be entirely happy, but to be kind is very easy indeed and that is the greatest measure of happiness." To me, this is one of the truths of life.

As one of those that sufferers from depression for seemingly no good reason, it is not easy to be happy. We all strive for happiness, but miscommunications and disappoints block the good. Kindness, however, is rare because we all rationalize the terrible things that we do to each other, yet being kind is easy. It just takes practice and that can then bring you happiness.

I got involved in More Love Letters to share positive thoughts to random people. It's my attempt at being kind because I haven't been as I have no been happy. The writing of letters that helps another person that will never know me, makes me smile because I might have brightened someone's day. That brings me happiness.

The challenge: one random act of kindness. I challenge all of you to do one thing for another person. I write letters and leave them for people to find. What would you do?

Does kindness bring happiness and is that what we can measure our happiness by? Some of the most miserable people are the kindest because they don't want others to suffer like they do. Maybe we can learn from Rochester that kindness is easy and that we can all be part of bringing happiness by it.