Without kindness we go sour. Kindness forces us out of our narrow concerns, usually about ourselves. Kindness reminds us that self is rather narrow and constricting. When we escape the confines of self into something bigger like family or community or a cause, we spring ourselves from self’s prison.
Kindness isn’t extravagant or showy so we often miss it blooming. It’s the invite from the neighbor for a cup of coffee, the timely message of care and concern from a friend, your spouse doing your “chore”, a nodded hello to a stranger.
A friendly, tender or well-disposed effort on behalf of others makes both giver and recipient happy. Kindness leaves a trail of goodwill in its wake.
I keep a daily gratitude journal as a way to practice noticing. I recommend the practice, if, like me, you tend toward nursing grudges rather than gratitude. Documenting gratitude lightens your psyche. This month, I kept a kindness journal. Kindness stuns in its regularity and diversity.
Kindness isn’t going to radically change the world, even if it makes everyone’s life a titch easier. Practicing kindness doesn’t deliver particular or extraordinary results. Some days kindness just lets us happily hang out.
Water comes in many forms from solid to gas to liquid just as our emotional lives transform according to experience and circumstance. Here’s a mini-exercise to allow you to explore the transformative power of water.
Enjoy!
xo
Sue and Felecia
Hello!
Embracing life and all of it’s experiences, this blog celebrates the daily wonders and absurdities of life.
I live in the Heartland with Prince Charming in a cottage on a winding, tree-shaded lane. It’s as close to happily ever-after as I ever thought possible.
And yet some days, unless I remind myself of all that I have to be grateful for, I can get a little crabby. This blog is a weekly gratitude journal. And hopefully reminds you too of all that is wonderful and worth at least a smile in your own life.
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