Excerpts from the book Random Acts of Kindness.

The mind cannot long act the role of the heart.
Francois la Rouchefoucauld

In order to bring more love into our lives, we need to learn to live from our hearts rather than our heads. Our hearts, nor our minds, are the initiators of all genuine behaviour....if we cultivate a stance of open-heartedness toward ourselves and those around us, we will not have to remember to be kind, it will be our inclination. Becoming open hearted is less a process of trying and more one of softening, first toward ourselves, then toward the people around us and the circumstances of life itself. As we develop compassion for our own fears and foibles...we can more often look with softened eyes at those around us and respond with the fullness of our hearts. When we choose to open our hearts to another we risk great pain and heartbreak. When we offer something of ourselves to another, we risk rejection. When we choose to stand up for what we believe, we risk ridicule or persecution. Sometimes, particularly in the moment we must choose, the fear is so great that it seems we should simply retreat, choose to be safe. Yet in the instant we choose to be safe, we have already done ourselves great harm, for we have cut ourselves off from the potential of warmth and comfort from others.

Sharing is somthing more demanding than giving.
Mary Catherine Bateson