So, kindness. It’s a big thing. In fact, today is even World Kindness Day. Because apparently people need a reminder to be kind these days.
Why so many are re-vowing this week to be kind? And patient? And understanding? Isn’t that just what we’re supposed to be as humans? Aren’t we all supposed to understand that we are each made as individuals? Aren’t we, as adults, old enough to practice kindness just as we practice breathing?! With ease and as if its second nature? When did it become this thing?
Sure. I have to say to my seven, five and two year olds, nearly a million times a day, “choose kindness, please.” Because they are children.
But we are not children. We adults all have our own mixed bag o shit that we haul with us through this life. We’ve all been through hard. We’ve all got stuff. So why do we need the reminders?
Because, I think, it isn’t our instinct. To be kind. To share. To slap a freaking smile on our faces and project that to the world instead of constant RBF. To genuinely be filled with gratitude for our lot in life. And to celebrate the differences of people instead of scoffing at them. It isn’t maybe what comes naturally to so many people in this current culture. It has to be taught. Practiced. And concentrated on. It has to be learned. And every time we encounter something that seems different than us… or than we might do… we have to again, tap into our hearts and choose kind.
The reality is we are all different. We all think every other person is weird if they don’t share our views, beliefs, or opinions. And guess what… you’re weird, too. Sorry to break it to you. And I’m weird (guessing you figured that part out). We are each weirdly and wonderfully made. And I think that’s actually fantastically beauty-full. But it’s hard, too. Because differences can be divisive. Differences can make people be cross. Or judgy. So. We must choose. Choose kindness.
Our fingertips can so easily type emotion-filled words in a way that seems devoid of emotion. Our verbal vomit and verbal mudslinging rhetoric seems so easy when we don’t have to actually look anyone in the face after we push “post” or “enter” or “send.” And so, I think we are starting to forget that it isn’t just sticks and stones that hurt… words and actions and opinions; those hurt, too.
Today is world kindness day. And I think, it feels like the world needs it. What the world needs now is kindness. Love. Hope. And maybe, some coffee.
Because coffee always helps, right?
Pour someone a big cup of kindness this week. Bring a smile to your own face if you can find one. And shine love all over the place like that shit’s just falling like rain. And soak it up like it’s rays of sunshine. Find goodness in your heart and spew it all over all the things. Press the restart button if you have to. And make this week a brighter one.
Be a friend. Be good. Be kind.
