I have not noticed direct consequences. I have, however, seen kindness taken advantage of by unscrupulous people who have nothgin better to do than prey on the kindness and generousity of others.

I've known people who have fallen into depression and/or triggered panic attacks because they were unable to show kindness or help someone in need. I think that may have less to do with being too kind and more to do with upbringing and childhood trama, but it still seems relevant.

Much kindness is wasted on the wrong people.

Some kind people are attracted to narcissists. They will suck at the marrow of kindness and never return it.

Funny this should come up. People tell me I'm generous and altruistic to a fault, and I'll admit I'll give the shirt off my back to a friend who needs it. They also tell me I need to 'assert my boundaries,' but the problem I have with that is that I've no idea where to draw them when it comes to things other than immediate physical space. If I, say, leave friends in a lurch for my own financial stability, I wouldn't be able to live with myself. I couldn't look in the mirror and feel as though I pass my own judgement. I've been left like that before and it was hell. I don't want to put my friends through that. But the situation as it stands is pretty stressful for me.

So, yes, there is such a thing. I'm probably enabling, or something. But I hate seeing people I care about suffer.

Yes there is. my sister loves her animals so much that they suffer really badly rather than being put to sleep and if your too nice to the wrong person they will walk all over you or think you fancy them.

@Rugglesby hit it on the head. Kindness can cross a line and can even lead to dysfunctional codependency. Sometimes the kindest thing we can do is to promote autonomy.

Yes. Too much of anything is just enough.

yes, but at that point I call it enabling rather than kindness.

At work, being kind and having empathy for others made me seem weak. Work-bullies had no problem with occasional disrespect towards me. I was the new person after all, and they've been there doing the same exact job for hundreds of years. Rude behaviour towards the new people is their "right". It was too easy for co-workers to underestimate me and believe me to be a non-threat that no one needed to be worried about. Some even thought I was stupid just because I had a perky go-getter attitude and smiled a lot. Then in exactly eighteen months time, I got a promotion with a 56%
percent increase in income, the company car for travel, and a travel budget. They realized too late that I was not as stupid as they thought as I swiped that job opportunity out from under their condescending feet, and all while they weren't paying attention to the always-smiling but hard-working, office "idiot". So, is being nice bad? Naaaaaaah.

Yes. Like releasing the black cab raper in London, so he could rape again. Yes when enabling dangerous behavior in someone.

I think kindness can, in some cases, enable negative behavior. Giving money to someone with a serious drug problem could result in a fatal overdose, for instance. It may be with the best of intentions, but might not be in the person's best interest.

No.