Keep the Kindness Campaign Going
Today I am grateful for a little bye-bye kiss from our grandson and for good prayers to bring me peace and strength.
Fellow blogger Diane Lynn at The Gratitude Letters has an approach and style in her blog that I appreciate and which resonates with my own ideas on gratitude practice. In this post from July 4, titled "Kindness Campaign Chain", Diane wrote about an idea she had picked up from a friend. It included doing her own 30 days of kindness campaign, and sharing some of the kindnesses and insights gained.
I decided to give it a try, and though I am a few days short of 30 days, I wanted to write about the difference this made to me. Like Diane, many of my gestures were to family members and were of a mundane nature. They ranged from bringing morning coffee to my husband and turning my son's socks right side out as I folded clean laundry.
They also included sending supportive text messages to friends in recovery and a couple of handwritten thank yous. I also let strangers go ahead of me in line or waited for them to cross in a parking lot. Nothing monumental here. I would like to think I do many of these things anyway, kindness campaign or not.
The part that really made an impression on me was the awareness piece. Committing myself to the campaign (no one else knew until now) and writing my kindness efforts down was very much like writing gratitudes down. The more I looked for ways to be kind, the kinder and gentler I felt. It didn't always translate into direct actions, but it slowed me down and helped me stay more in tune to be kind when an opportunity arose.
I encourage each of you reading this to give it a try too. The mind is very powerful. What do you want to fill yours with? Gratitudes and kindnesses, or fears and worries? I say, let the gratitude and
kindness campaigns continue! Thank you Diane Lynn at "Gratitude Letters."
Fellow blogger Diane Lynn at The Gratitude Letters has an approach and style in her blog that I appreciate and which resonates with my own ideas on gratitude practice. In this post from July 4, titled "Kindness Campaign Chain", Diane wrote about an idea she had picked up from a friend. It included doing her own 30 days of kindness campaign, and sharing some of the kindnesses and insights gained.
I decided to give it a try, and though I am a few days short of 30 days, I wanted to write about the difference this made to me. Like Diane, many of my gestures were to family members and were of a mundane nature. They ranged from bringing morning coffee to my husband and turning my son's socks right side out as I folded clean laundry.
They also included sending supportive text messages to friends in recovery and a couple of handwritten thank yous. I also let strangers go ahead of me in line or waited for them to cross in a parking lot. Nothing monumental here. I would like to think I do many of these things anyway, kindness campaign or not.
The part that really made an impression on me was the awareness piece. Committing myself to the campaign (no one else knew until now) and writing my kindness efforts down was very much like writing gratitudes down. The more I looked for ways to be kind, the kinder and gentler I felt. It didn't always translate into direct actions, but it slowed me down and helped me stay more in tune to be kind when an opportunity arose.
I encourage each of you reading this to give it a try too. The mind is very powerful. What do you want to fill yours with? Gratitudes and kindnesses, or fears and worries? I say, let the gratitude and
kindness campaigns continue! Thank you Diane Lynn at "Gratitude Letters."
I'm in! Starting today August 2. I will write them down. Kindness campaign...I love it.
ReplyDeleteGlad to hear it! My guess is you will learn more than new ways to be kind.
Delete:-)