Too often kindness is relegated to a random act performed only when we’re feeling good. But an even greater kindness (to ourselves and others) occurs when we reach out even when we aren't feeling entirely whole. It’s not easy, and no one is perfect. But we’ve decided it’s not impossible to brighten the world one smile, one kind word, one blog post at a time. To that end, a few of us writers have established The Kindness Project, starting with a series of inspirational posts. We post the second Wednesday of every month.
Wow, I can't believe it's already been another month! We have some exciting new stuff coming up with The Kindness Project, and I can't wait to share it all with you! The response to this movement has been amazing, and every month more and more people want to join us. That's what this is all about. Spreading kindness, spreading awareness, helping us to make concerted efforts to do good. Just like Carol posted about (and even got some ink for!): DO GOOD ANYWAY.
You want to know the honest truth? A lot of the time people don't reciprocate kindness. But you know what? That's okay. DO GOOD ANYWAY. Because you never know the long term effects your kindness might have. Maybe not the first time, or second time, or fiftieth time. But someday, somehow, maybe it will cause a change. And if not, you changed yourself, and really, that's the most important thing of all.
Another hard truth? It's difficult to be kind to everyone. We all know that person--the one who is amazingly sweet and wonderful to some people, and as mean as all get out to others. I don't want to be that person. I want to be that other person we all know--the one who is kind to everyone. The person that no one can think of anything bad to say (except for, "seriously, she can't really be that wonderful, can she??" haha). This is a tall order for me. I'm far from being that second person. But hopefully with each passing day, week, month, I am getting closer to person #2 and less like person #1.
Something that helps me is to try and live my life with this thought in mind:
That is powerful. Because the honest truth is that you never know. You never know how much time there is. This life is so uncertain and I never want to suffer from the pain of regret. So regardless of who you are or how you've treated me or whether you like me or hate me, I'm going to do my darndest to find the good in you. To treat you with kindness. TO DO GOOD ANYWAY.
See what everyone else is posting about today:
