How do we know a person is ‘nice’? We know it when they DO the things ‘nice’ people do. Nice people do not seek destructive purposes or ends. Nice people aren’t always smiling and pleasant, but we tend to think of them that way. It’s hard to imagine someone who is scowling as being nice, isn’t it?

Aura -available in digital print
We all know people who are not nice. But, we can love people who are not ‘nice’. We can love people we know will not love us in return. We can continue to be ‘nice’ in the face of adversity, and we can subdue the forces of hatred only by refusal to submit to uncaring. It’s not as difficult as one might think, to love someone who does not return the sentiment, if we do not expect others to behave in kind. It’s one thing to hope for it, but quite another to expect it.
It is possible to love everyone, genuinely. It is possible to be kind to everyone. Loving kindness does not imply trust or intimacy. Nobody can steal what you have freely given, abuse or even deny it. Others may refuse what you offer, freely. Again, if it is offered without expectation we do not succumb to feelings of rejection or anxiety when our love is refused.

Angel Kissing Dragon
If am man is dying of thirst in the desert, he has no interest in anything, other than a drink. If a person has suffered some loss… a job, a loved one, etc., they may not be in a place to accept loving kindness. Many people are suspicious of it, and inherently distrustful of anyone who offers such caring. Do not let this stop you from being a loving and caring person! Recognize this tendency as a result of a long term shortage. People distrust what is unfamiliar to them. They may feel threatened by what is, essentially, unknown. You can feel love and be kind without forcing it on people.

Whole Music & Art Class Project Image
Everyone has a right to learn in the time and manner and place of their own choosing. It is certain that we will learn, and grow, if we live. We can not raise another persons’ awareness without their express consent. We can not teach anyone anything unless they agree to three things: 1) to learn and 2) to learn from (specific indivudal/s) and 3) to learn in the time and place that the lesson is available. No matter how much you may want to help others, you can not do so unless or until they are ready and willing. It is the universal no fault agreement. There is no fault on you, or on another person, if that agreement is not reached at a specific time and place. It is the hieght of arrogance to assume that we are tooled or equipped to save another person, or that we might fix what is not broken to begin with. People who hate are not broken. The people they hate not broken. People are only divided by, or in, how they perceive things.
Many people never realize they are not the victim of their own emotions, but the source of all the feelings they experience. It is important to know that every thought generates emotion, that emotion is energy IN motion… not a static sensation that resides only within us. What we think about things determines how we feel about them, not the other way around. We can change how we feel by changing how we think. Not only for ourselves, but everyone within the area of influence. A single person can enter a crowded room and completely change the ‘mood’ of the crowd, effectively managing the flow of emotion (energy in motion) within the room, for better or worse.
When a ‘nice’ person enters a room full of angry gossips, the sniping tends to come to a grinding halt. There may be some attempt to draw the nice person into the group mindset, but unless the nice person agrees to join in, the group dynamic must shift in the direction of the ‘nice’ influence. Funny, how that works. It’s the no fault universal agreement, again. The angry gossips are not willing to accept, the nice person is not willing to change, neutral ground is established, for a time.
When a nice person comes into contact with an unrestrained angry mob, there is no neutral ground and a mood shift is unlikely. The emotions of the angry mob prevail as energy in motion, sweeping up everything in the path like a tidal wave. In water there is wisdom, however. If we recognize the pattern and influence, we can (B*) avoid the situation, (A*) bring sufficient force to reverse the tide, or (C*) surf.
Everything in the universe, including people, performs the same vital function: to transform and transmute energy from one form to another. Whether by eating, osmosis, exposure, exchange, birth, death, breathing, using fossil fuels, creating this or that from this or that, or what have you… it all serves this purpose in some way. The process is the purpose, and the way. That’s my story, and I’m sticking to it!
*** Essentially there are three choices in any circumstance or situation. (A)Positive, (B) Negative, and (C) Neutral. Positive would be assertive, taking action, causal, and/or acceptance. Negative would be passive, inaction, refusal, avoidance. Neutral is the middle path and central pillar. This is when we make lemonade from life’s lemons, and float or surf on angry mobs without becoming part of the angry mob. It can be a bit tricky to learn to recognize each of these three influences in any given situation or moment, but all three are always present, and always available. Mastering the use of these infuences is, perhaps, the ultimate achievement. It has been done, by a few people, or saints and saviors, in each century.