Kindness
This month we’re all about kindness. I think that kindness sometimes gets a bad rep – people somehow see it as boring, or believe that kind people are a pushover. We can sometimes think that to get ahead we need to be tough – to prioritise ourselves over others. But we know that’s not what makes the world go round. It’s those everyday acts of kindness, which are sometimes performed without even thinking. That grease the wheels of society. That keep society going.
Photo by Andrew Thornebrooke on Unsplash
Kindness is seen to be the quality of being friendly, generous and considerate. When we’re being kind to others, we might be showing empathy, maybe we do something that’s helpful, perhaps we do something that they enjoy – just for them. For a period of time, you are prioritising that person, and meeting their needs. It’s more than being nice – it’s intentionally doing something that’s kind. It’s an action.
Photo by Matt Collamer on Unsplash
In this same way, we can offer kindness to ourselves. In fact, we really need to be able to offer kindness to ourselves before we can offer this to others. Our reserves need to be topped up so that we have some to give. What acts of kindness could you perform for yourself this month? Yesterday I cut my fingernails. This might not seem much, but I’m slightly phobic of cutting my nails and usually avoid it – one had started to split and was going to cause me pain, so I cut all of them to avoid discomfort. I gave myself a little “thank you” as I did it – cementing this as an act of kindness. What small acts of kindness can you perform for you?
Photo by Alysha Rosly on Unsplash
So, this month, we’re going to focus on those acts of kindness – that we sometimes forget about in this busy, hectic world. We’re going to take time to perform acts of kindness – for ourselves as well as for others – and we’re going to celebrate them. When we celebrate something, we etch it more deeply into our memory – which means it’s more likely to be repeated, and we get more pleasure from it.