Read: Everyday Kindness

Title: Everyday Kindness: Short cuts to a happier and more confident life

Author: Stephanie Dowrick

Publisher: Allen and Unwin, 2011

ISBN: 978-1-74237-824-4

Stephanie Dowrick's latest book, Everyday Kindness: Short cuts to a happier and more confident life, is a good read that could calm the nerves and inspire. 

Ever since I had read about it being published in Nov 2011, I had wanted to get myself a copy of this book. However, I could not seem to find a copy of it in Singapore. So when I was in Sydney this May, I was very delighted that I could find and purchase a copy of this book! The author was very kind and had autographed my copy of the book. This would make my copy of the book quite a treasure to me!

When I read the back-cover of the book, there was a quote that got me to think about how to demonstrate kindness. Here's sharing the quotation:

Kindness begins with how we think about ourselves and others... and every day offers a new beginning.

This book can perhaps be described as a compilation of many short chapters, each which is written to allow the reader to read at a single sitting. The way the book was organized has made it easier to read it whenever I had snippets of free time. I read this book whenever I was travelling about places, and whenever I was waiting in a queue. Reflecting on what was written in the book had taken a bit more time than the reading of the book itself. While I had started reading this book from end of May 2012, I had only finished reading it from cover to cover in mid July 2012.

If you were to ask me about what I had remembered from this book, strangely, I cannot quite recall down to the details! Yet, I remember that whenever I read this book, I would usually feel inspired to practice being kind, and I would feel a sense of encouragement to do my part to practice kindness. Perhaps each and every second, we can practice being kind, if we choose to do so.

The author organized the contents of this book into eight broad categories. These are: kindness, personal power, self-confidence, relationships, identity, children and their parents, moods, and work. Such a way of organization perhaps suggests that in every single context, there are possibilities to be kind.

Under the broad category of kindness, Stephanie Dowrick discussed a range of topics of how kindness is integral to our well-being and more. It was interesting to read the thoughts and writings of a brilliant thought-leader in Stephanie Dowrick.

When Stephanie Dowrick was discussing on the topic of personal power, she seemed to be reminding that each of us have the power to make a difference through our choices and behaviours.

Jokingly, since I could not remember all the details of the book, I would gladly reread this book in the near future. Perhaps I would just flip randomly to one of the short chapters, read it, and savour at the wisdom that this book would bring me. Come to think of it, I had experienced this book to be similar to Richard Carlson's Don't Sweat the Small Stuff series, with each chapter discussing the ideas more extensively.

Many thanks to Stephanie Dowrick for sharing her thoughts on everyday kindness, and being encouraging in demonstrating that it is possible to be kind irregardless of one's situation and context. Hopefully, may this book be available in Singapore soon.

Here's the official website of the author, Stephanie Dowrick: http://www.stephaniedowrick.com