To receive kindness does us good. Think of a time someone has been kind to you, in a big or a small way: A passerby gave you directions to reach the station or a stranger threw herself in a river to save you from drowning. What effect did it have on you? Probably a beneficial one, because if someone helps us when we need it, we feel relief. And everyone likes to be heard, treated with warmth and friendliness, understood, and nourished.

Something similar happens on the other side of the equation: Giving kindness does us as much good as receiving it. . . .

The true benefit of kindness is being kind. Perhaps more than any other factor, kindness gives meaning and value to our life, raises us above our troubles and our battles, and makes us feel good about ourselves.

Piero Ferrucci, The Power of Kindness