Cordiality comes from the Latin cordis, heart. It is something we do from the heart, with affection, with love.
Expressing cordiality as a lifestyle, in addition to being a beautiful stance before life, before the world, is good for ourselves. In the past, there were even remedies that were called cordials, because they were good for the heart. In fact, you are left with a feeling of a lighter heart when you manifest a beautiful, affable attitude, with whoever it may be. This shows us that the greatest beneficiary is not the other who was the target of our kindness, but ourselves, in the first place.
Civility opens doors, facilitates social, cultural and even bureaucratic processes. A cordial student captivates their teachers, who will thus make their school life easier. A kind employee oils the relationships with customers, colleagues and superiors. A friendly customer gets more goodwill and sometimes even a discount from the seller. An attentive salesperson sells more, earns more money. A friendly resident gets wonderful exceptions from the doorman of their building. But it is obvious that we are not going to be cordial only thinking about the advantages that this brings us.
Civility and cordiality are very easy when the other person is already being kind. But what if the other person is being rude and aggressive? Well, then it is necessary that your civility is very authentic and that you have made a commitment to yourself to be cordial in any situation, with any person, come what may.
It is no coincidence that gentleman in French is gentilhomme (gentle man) and in English is gentleman (gentle man).
From the book Change the world, start with yourself, Professor DeRose, Egrégora Books.