So yeah, December 10th. And yeah, busy. You too? All of us, maybe. Or maybe just most of us are super busy just now. And have you noticed how easy it is to forget things when you’re super busy? Like to pick up milk on the way home? Or get the clothes out of the dryer before they wrinkle all up? Or to be kind? I’m kind of kidding, but kind of not. Because it seems like the busier we are, the more we rush around tied to our to-do lists, the more stress we’re under – the less kind we can be. So maybe it’s good to remember that kindness might just be the way to happiness.
{an edited re-post from the archives}
When we show kindness to others we change the world, and we change ourselves.
And I think we all know this.
So why does it seem sometimes as if the world is so unkind? We’re all rushed and stressed and staring at our screens and somehow not connecting even though we’re more connected than we’ve ever been.
Here’s the thing – everyone on the planet (me, you, your annoying cousin, and that neighbor who runs the snowblower at five in the morning) needs to feel significant. Special. Important. We all just need to feel like we matter.
It’s a human thing.
And when we do feel significant, special, and important? We become more loving. We become more open, more inclusive, more likely to help others.
A drop of kindness sends out ripples that reach far and wide.
How do you change the world?
Kindness.
An act of kindness – the gift of your smile or your time or your help – speaks volumes. When you’re kind, you tell the other person that they really are special. That they really are noticed. That they really are important.
That they really do matter.
Call it “pay it forward”, or call it doing-unto-others, or call it the golden rule. Call it whatever you like. The words don’t matter, only the doing does.
It isn’t always easy, this. Sometimes it takes time we don’t seem to have or effort that we don’t think we can give. It’s easy to stay safely inside our normal lives and normal routines and going out of our way for someone else is, well, out of our way.
It might just be the way out of loneliness or despair or plain old sadness for someone else. Maybe even a way to joy?
When we choose to give grace, give kindness, give mercy – when we choose to give ourselves to someone else – the cosmos shift. The world changes.
We change. Happiness sprouts in the soil of helping others.
One kind act to change the world, to change a life.
Maybe even our own.
~xo,
LuAnne
