Are You Kind?

You watch the news on TV and the internet. You read the posts on FaceBook. Fear, anger, and meaness are servedup to us every day.

How do you keep all that from stressing you? How do you keep from getting caught up in the hate and cruelty? How do yu stay "nice" when all around yu is washed in such negatives?

I know I struggle with it. I want to be nice. I've always thought of myself as a nice person. But I'm reading this book (You Can Be Kind, by David Friedman) and am wondering just how kind I really am!

I'm learning that I'm not even kind to myself, which is a prerequisit to being kind to others. My negative self-talk is certainly not kind. I saw a picture taken of me sleeping with my great-granddaughter while babysitting. The picture taker that it was darling. My immediate response was, "I look like a hippopatamus!" Certainly not kind. If someone else had said that to me I'd think it was cruel. I need to be kinder to myself.

This past week I tried to be intentionally kind to others. I want it to become a way of life, so the more I practice intentional kindness the easier it will be. I let other cars go in front of me when driving, I let someone go before me in the check-out line, and I remained silent many times I might have reacted negatively to what someone was saying. One day I was able to join a demonstration to protect a Muslim Mosque from a large group of extremists who planned to harras the people going in to pray at the end of Ramadan. So, much of the time I was kind.

This proves to me that kindness is a choice! It isn't something you "become" but something you do.
So YOU can be kind too. I will work on being kinder to myself and continue with intentional kindness toward others. I hope you will join me.

There is a pay-off for being kind. You will feel better about yourself. You may find others will be kinder, too. And you won't have so many negatives to carry around and leave you worn out by the end of the week!

My next blog post will share some of the wisdom the the Friedman book. Check in Wednesday.

And, be kind.