We all need food, sleep, and love.
Loving-kindness is acting out in loving and thoughtful ways to bring accord and friendship between those we do and don’t know. This type of living is other-centered and fosters harmony. In an overabundance of loving-kindness, we see excessive doting and lack of care for oneself; in an extreme lack of loving-kindness, we see selfishness and egotism rampant. This trait in balance serves humanity and self, and is considered a vital foundation of the world.
Show a smile to at least five people today that you pass by today.
Lend an ear to someone that you know could use some company.
Make it a point to ask someone how his/her day is going — whether you know that person or not.
Give a genuine compliment to someone today.
Meditation
Daily Questions
What were the seeds that hindered your ability to manifest loving-kindness today?
Did a good deed you perfomed today lift up someone while lowering someone else, or was this good deed mutually beneficial for all involved?
Were your deeds done merely for the sake of Heaven, or for some personal gain?
Did you receive honor for doing a deed today? If so, would you have done the deed had it been in private and no honor was attached?
Were you able to use prayer or meditation to help you in making the more noble choices you were confronted with today?
Do you spend some time during the day thinking about how to help others?
Does helping others or doing acts of kindness come naturally? If not, what could you do to make it a more natural practice?
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Quotables
What you hate, do not do to your friend. -- Shabbos 31a
Do not seek revenge or bear a grudge against anyone among your people, but love your neighbor as yourself. I am the LORD. -- Vayikra 19:18
Hillel and Shammai received the Torah from them. Hillel said: 'Be of the disciples of Aaron, loving peace and pursuing peace, loving your fellow creatures and bringing them close to the Torah.' -- Avot 1:12
If you have done your neighbor a little wrong, let it be in your eyes great; if you have done him much good, let it be in your eyes little; if he has done you a little good, let it be in your eyes great; if he has done you a great wrong, let it be in your eyes little. -- Avot 1:6, Avot de Rabbi Nathan ch 41
He who says, 'What is mine is yours and what is yours is thine own'—he is a saintly man. -- Avot 5:13
A love without rebuke is no real love. -- Bereishit Rabbah, ch 54, section 3
The highest form of wisdom is kindness. -- Berachot 17a
Shimon the Righteous was one of the last survivors of the Great Assembly. He used to say: "On three things the world is sustained: on the Torah, on the (Temple) service, and on deeds of loving kindness." -- Avot 1:2
The world is built with chesed (loving-kindness). -- Tehillim 89:3
Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up. -- Galatians 6:9
The lessons of kindness coming from the scriptures are as boundless as the kindness Hashem used when He formed Creation. The midrash teaches us that the Torah begins with kindness (the clothing of Adam and Eve) and ends with kindness (the burial of Moses). It seems that chesed is a fundamental force of the universe.