I found the way to make a difference

And it doesn’t cost me anything but myself.

A Kind Sunflower © Kathryn LeRoy

Hello friends,

Kind, kindness, kindly: all variations on a theme. But what does it mean, and why do I feel it’s missing?

When all the news channels, social media, and sometimes the people around us, focus only on the negative, the kindness blurs behind the noise of wars, brutality, inhumanity, and divisiveness.

Cultivating a kind lifestyle isn’t a hard habit to acquire. Yet, even with the best intentions, stressful situations, rudeness, or those days when nothing goes your way, being kind offers the ultimate challenge.

During those moments, my body, actions, and attitude take on a “fight or flight” mentality—an “it’s all about me” posture. Therein lies the key. Me.

I recognize it as the Achilles heel causing me to give my “look of disapproval” to an errant cashier or the driver who just cut in front of me. My view of the world narrows down to the space in which I exist.

When I see that moment, I take a deep breath—my best defense and signal to slow down. I remember what kind looks like, sounds like, feels like.

Kind: having or showing a friendly, generous, and considerate nature.

I have an obsession with searching for the etymology of words because, after all, words express the currency of our actions, behaviors, and emotions.

The origin of kind (from the Google/Oxford Languages Dictionary): Old English gecynde ‘natural, native’; in Middle English the earliest sense is ‘well born or well bred’, whence ‘well disposed by nature, courteous, gentle, benevolent’.

Kindness: the quality of being friendly, generous, and considerate.

How can we move more intentionally living kindness, friendly, generous, and considerate? Answering two questions grounds my actions. One gives me a visual, the other reminds me kindness surrounds me.

• What does being kind mean to me?

• What is the best act of kindness I’ve experienced?

Then I finish this sentence: Kindness starts with . . .

Let’s make kindness the norm.

What if each of us added a commitment to four simple agreements? I believe our impact would surpass our expectations for the change we can make. Sounds like a candidate for a 30-day challenge.

The Random Acts of Kindness Foundation has more ideas for spreading kindness at home, school, and in our community to make kindness the norm.

Let music inspire your kindness with songs like Try a Little Kindness, Humble and Kind, Count on Me,  Kind and Generous, and add the happy dancing of Harry Styles, Treat People with Kindness

“Do your little bit of good where you are: it’s those little bits of good put together that overwhelm the world.”
—Desmond Tutu

“ Wherever there is a human being, there is an opportunity for a kindness.”
—Lucius Annaeus Seneca

Find a little wonder this week—be kind, be brave, be you.

With gratitude,

Kathryn

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