Kindness ensures psychological well-being, protects against anxiety and stabilizes mood, according to British writer Leon Logothetis, who explains how to rediscover this quality that fosters connection with oneself and others, as he personally discovered on his travels through a hundred countries.
For the British adventurer, motivational speaker, television presenter, philanthropist and writer Leon Logothetis, "the greatest gift of human beings is kindness", a quality that fosters the connection between different people and each person with himself.
After being a stockbroker in London “where on the outside I looked like I had it all, but on the inside I felt uninspired, disconnected and chronically depressed”, he left it all for a life “on the road”, in a radical change of life inspired by the movie "The Motorcycle Diaries" (2004), as he confesses).
For more than a decade, Logothetis has visited almost a hundred countries and traveled to every continent, seeking, finding and highlighting the ‘good side’ of humanity, all of which is on full display in the documentary television series ‘The Kindness Diaries’ (The goodness diaries), of which he is the protagonist and which has been broadcast on platforms such as Netflix, Discovery Plus and BYU TV.
In that television program, Logothetis travels the world aboard a motorcycle with a sidecar and a Volkswagen ‘Beetle’ car "propelled by the generosity, kindness and help of strangers", not accepting their money, but listening to their stories, and helping those kind people to fulfill their dreams.
amiability
He points out that in his adventure around the world, receiving and giving kindness, he found the essence of humanity and learned about the ties that connect people everywhere.
"I discovered that when we human beings compare ourselves based on our similarities instead of focusing on our differences, we begin to create a brighter future," says Logothetis.
In his latest written work, ‘The power of being kind’ (Spanish version of ‘Go Be Kind’) he proposes "twenty-eight and a half adventures that will change your life and the way you see the world", a set of teachings and exercises daily to train our ability to be kind and empathetic and connect with other people and ourselves, he explains.
Kindness leads you to the path of happiness
“When you start practicing the art of being kind, you start on the direct path to happiness,” says Logothetis.
Kindness is not something that is thought but something that is felt, and “when we feel it, either by offering it or receiving it, we feel happier and less alone. This is a fact," he says.
“I believe that kindness is an innate quality within each person. However, as happens with all the traits of human beings, we must cultivate this quality as often as possible in order to feel all its effects”, Logothetis tells EFE.
“Being kind when everything is going well and people treat us with respect is easy. But what if we try to be kind when things don’t go as we would like and the person in front of us has an attitude, words or behavior that is far from good…? Well, that’s not so easy," he reflects.
Logothetis has a simple trick that he shares with EFE to be kind in those situations that do not invite kindness: it consists of "looking at the person who seems unpleasant or unpleasant to us and pretending that it is just a little girl or boy."
“If you manage to do this, it will be easier to treat ‘unkind’ people with love. If that tactic doesn’t work, then maybe it’s time to get out of the situation you’re in with that person for a while…”, he recommends.
What prevents us from being kind
Although the difficulty in expressing kindness often lies not in others but in ourselves, Logothetis warns that he dedicates one of the exercises or ‘everyday adventures’ in his book to discovering "What prevents you from being kind?"
To find out, he recommends completing in writing and quickly (in thirty seconds maximum) a simple ‘examination’, consisting of identifying which of the following options may be the root of our difficulty in being kind:
“I am terrified that I will be hurt if I share my heart with the world.”
"It makes me angry that the world is so harsh and cruel sometimes!"
"I’m a shy person and I don’t really know what to say."
"I’m not shy, but still I don’t know what to say."
"I don’t want to be embarrassed, or worse, to be rejected."
"I feel like I live on a lonely planet."
"I feel like a lonely fox."
Another possibility: …
Once the cause of what sabotages or undermines our ability to be kind is discovered, we must stay “there, a second with our response, even if it hurts a little”, because “whatever prevents you from connecting with other people is the same as it prevents you from being truly happy,” he says.
The answer to the book exam puts us in touch with “that dark place that we all have, that great wound that separates us from the world and gets in the way every time we want to get close to another person, every time we want to be honest with ourselves. themselves.”, according to Logothetis.
The author confesses that his great wound consisted of feeling alone for a long time, and that he managed to heal it by connecting with other people, thus going from pain to happiness and adds: "That’s my case, now it’s your turn!" (to discover your wound).
"When you have discovered that wound and have it in writing, put it in a place where you can look at it and think about how you can start healing it today to become happy," he says.
Change is something that takes time, that “doesn’t happen overnight”, but that “can start right now”, he emphasizes.