A dictionary would define kindness as simply the quality of being friendly, generous and considerate. The Journal of Experimental Social Psychology goes a little further and breaks it down to four types of kindness, being kind to your family and members of your community. Reciprocal altruism and Competitive altruism are the other two which are a little harder to understand but are necessary for being kind.
The “Four Pillars” of the kindness moral compass are “Integrity, Respect, Responsibility and Compassion”. They are the basic framework for a moral education. They guide you in cultivating virtues such as honesty, accountability, empathy, compassion and will foster you in becoming a well rounded person.

Compassion literally means to “suffer together”. It defines the feeling that comes to you when you are confronted with another’s suffering and feel motivated to help and to relieve that suffering. Compassion is a little different from empathy. Empathy is the awareness of a persons problem with a emotional experience and then attempts to feel those same emotions. Compassion is the desire to take action in helping to solve the problem.

Empathy is understanding what other people feel. By seeing things from another’s point of view and then imagining what they would do if they were wearing the same shoes, they can ask themselves, how would I solve this problem? Using this thought process, can lead to coming up with ideas of solving the situation. Creativity can be inspired by “thinking outside the box”. Kindness, Compassion and Empathy can mentally stimulate your imagination when you feel you’ve exhausted all avenues of being a kinder, better person. One way I’ve found in trying to be a better person, is to select a personal hero, then emulate and even try to surpass their achievements.