The Kindness Challenge by Shaunti Feldhahn

This book got a bit repetitive but I certainly think that the idea is worth a try! According to Feldhahn, you can change your relationships simply by being kind. She suggests focusing on one difficult relationship for thirty days and practising the three area of kindness - saying nothing negative, practising praise and doing a small act of kindness - each day.  This will become a habit and soon you will be able to be kinder to everyone! She has an excellent chapter on how to overcome the difficulties of being kind, such as how to keep one's temper.

I am glad that she explained that being kind is not being 'nice'.  Kindness doesn't 'shy away from a challenge' and it doesn't avoid conflict.  It requires 'honesty and strength'.  The old saying that 'you have to be cruel to be kind' really does apply sometimes, for example, if your child needs treatment for alcohol addiction, it is kind to refuse to make excuses for him.  Feldhahn points out that Jesus was many things, but he wasn't kind.

I found this more useful than most self-help books and I recommend it.

I received this free ebook from Crown books through Blogging for Books.