Be Kind.
When it comes to being kind, let’s not over think things. Most of us would agree that for the most part being kind to ourselves and to others is a good thing. If we take the time to really think about it though, whilst the notion of being kind is simple, it’s not always easy.
Let’s look at some examples of what being kind might look like:
To others:
When you see someone obviously in need of help and you’re easily able to help them… be kind and do so.
Tip generously, authentically thank people and/or wish them well, authentically say something kind to someone, hold the door open, give someone a real-deal smile… generally be on the lookout for opportunities to go out of your way to be kind to someone else.
Be responsible: Do what you say you’re going to do when you say you’re going to do it. If for some reason you’re unable to, just give the other person a heads up. Apologize if you’re late and let them know if they’ve dropped the ball and haven’t done something that they said they’d do for you.
Have straight conversations (be honest).
Be present with yourself, the people you care about, and everybody else.
Be grateful, not grumpy.
To yourself:
If you look at all of the of the stuff that you do to be kind to others, you’ll see that it has a benefit on you in contributing towards your own psychophysiological coherence.
Look after your body: Get enough sleep. Do stuff that’s indisputably good for you e.g. exercise, meditation, etc. Don’t put stuff into your body that will hurt and/or kill you. Put stuff into your body that’s good for you.
Be responsible: Take care of who and what you care about.
To make the whole “Be kind” thing a little easier to adopt and apply, let’s look at a few simple practices that will enable us to build our “Kind Muscles”. Let’s look to consistently being both:
Intentional about committing acts of kindness to ourselves and to others … and …
Spontaneously being on the lookout for opportunities to commit random acts of kindness (RAK’s) to ourselves and to others.
Let’s not over engineer things. My invitation here is for the next 30 days — once a day — for:
You to intentionally, explicitly, and demonstrably be kind to yourself — please also feel free to be on the lookout for opportunities to spontaneously commit additional random acts of kindness to and upon yourself should the opportunities arise.
You to intentionally, explicitly and demonstrably be kind to someone else — please also feel free to be on the lookout for opportunities to spontaneously commit additional random acts of kindness should the opportunities arise. These can be as or even more rewarding if no one else knows about them or finds out that you had anything to do with them.
