Acts of Kindess

As a doctor, I have understood, that medicine has its limits, and that ancient wisdom has immeasurable power to heal human hearts. Much of this wisdom, promotes the act of kindness as a tool for healing.

I am often asked whether any particular treatment modality. I always answer, that our strength lies in our belief, in the inherent goodness of every client.

In all my years of treating illnesses of the heart and soul, this belief has never failed me; each individual’s integrity is always there, lurking right beneath the surface, eager to emerge. Goodness tends to propagate itself, form a chain.
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This reminds me of a story of a man named Avi. I first met him while I was in Tel Aviv, speaking before a group of ex-convicts in recovery.

When I began to speak of self-esteem, this man interrupted me. "How can you talk to us of this? I’ve been a thief since I was eight. When I’m out of prison, I can’t find work, and my family doesn’t want to see me."

I stopped him and asked, if he’d passed by a jewelry store lately. "Consider the diamonds in the window," I said. "Try and think what they look like, when they come out of the mine -- lumps of dirty stone.

It takes a person who understands the diamond, to take the shapeless mound, and bring out its intrinsic beauty. That’s what we do here, we look for the diamond in everyone; we help the soul’s beauty come to the surface, we polish it until it gleams."

I looked at Avi, all disheveled and hunched over, nearly hiding in his seat, and said, "You’re like that dirt-covered stone, and our business is to find the diamond within and polish it until it glows."

Two years passed. Avi had graduated from the treatment center, and when the following event took place, he had already completed his stay in the halfway house, and was integrated into the community, working in construction.
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Avi once fond $1,700 in a sofa that he was moving for the center, he immediately gave it to the center.

Avi relayed this story to me in a letter. He wrote, "When I used drugs I would get a high for a very short time, and when the high wore off I felt terrible, worse than before. It’s been three months since I found that money, and every time I think of what I did, I feel good, all over again!
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It is no accident, that as a society we are experiencing a resurgence of belief in things spiritual. As we approach the new millennium, we instinctively sense, that we must turn our priorities around.

Nothing feels better, than performing a kindness for another. Each small good deed, builds on the one before, until you have a mosaic created from gemstones of kindness. And what will happen while you aren’t looking is, you’ll get so much back in return.