be kind

Jus’ asking.

Makes it harder to be kind to them, but not impossible.

If you can’t be kind, at least be polite.

I am so excited about my new job in Hospice/Solace. It will give me ample opportunity to be kind and to feel like I am making a difference.

Even when people are behaving badly in your space, being kind to them just works on so many levels. It calms. It lightens. Eventually everyone is grateful.

Sometimes being kind means not knowing what to say or do, but just being silent and present.

Say what you mean!
Say what you feel!
Say what you want!
Use your truth to communicate!

Making yourself known is a great kindness to give to your loved ones. It gives them the opportunity to KNOW you.

Be kind to someone you are giving your money to…
even if they are kind of grumpy. I have to give a great pile of money to the folks who are fixing my car. It is worth it to have my car fixed… and it is a hardship for me to pay it… since I have been out of work for many weeks… but I am going to make sure that I am not only kind, but pleasant too. They are doing me a great favor, since I cannot fix it myself right now.

Let me know if you also do this this week and how it goes.

A number of weeks ago I wrote my true feelings about a person who I find it difficult to be kind to… and actually I was neither rude, nor cleverly catty towards him. I actually just avoided him by leaving church early, and allowed him to visit with the good people there. In my stomach there was churning, and there was a flutter of stubborn-ness (why should I leave?) Kindness won out in the end. There wasn’t necessarily an olive branch involved – because I am not in a place to invite this toxic relationship back into my life – but I was not going to make a federal case out of it either. I did not gossip about it later, I did not say anything bad about this person to others, I just let it go. I did not have it in me to be KINDER or to be less kind. It was a middle ground, and I can live with it.

There is one person in this world I do NOT want to be kind to… he just… augh. I would rather never see him again, because he did such mean things to me and my family. He was my one huge toxic relationship. I steer clear of him always. I cancelled membership to a health club because he belongs there. I shop at a different grocery store, and stay away from his friends. But recently he has been coming to my place of worship. I feel so unsafe and conflicted. Where is my milk of human kindness. Why can’t he go somewhere else? Why does he have to be in my space? I fear I will stop going to meeting on sunday, and start staying home instead just to avoid him. I hate that I hate him.

I find that I never regret being kind. I have been catty and clever, but I usually regret it… probably always. You can still be clever and be kind. You have to get the knack, but it can be cultivated.