A Little More Kindness Please

November 13th marks World Kindness Day. I have mixed emotions about the concept of a day dedicated to kindness. Have we become so unkind that we need to dedicate a day to remind ourselves that kindness is important? Are we giving ourselves permission to be a little less kind on the other 364 days of the year? Let’s face it, our daily exposure to the world around us is a little less than kind; news, social media, entertainment, and ourselves could all take a lesson or two from Mr. Rogers. 

On the other hand, we can’t control what is presented to us, but we can control our actions. Let’s use World Kindness day as an opportunity to “make hay while the sun shines!” Having a day dedicated to kindness has the ability to shine a spotlight on kindness that will continue beyond November 13th. 

My hope is that we capitalize on World Kindness Day in the following three areas:

Educate

We can’t assume that everyone understands kindness. Unfortunately there are people that believe kindness is just the act of not being unkind. Like it or not, there are folks out there that are just not exposed to much kindness, or for whatever reason have not learned what true kindness is. We need to educate, or at least re-educate each other to what kindness is. I was once given a very helpful definition of kindness, it was third hand, so if the person who originally coined this, happens to read this, thank you:

Act

This is the good part. Go out and be kind! If you’re reading this, you probably already have a tendency to be kind. This is your day to really step up your A game. It’s like Halloween for kind people! You have permission to randomly walk up to strangers and share your kindness, going door to door may be pushing it, but you know what I mean. Find the ones that really need a shot of kindness and make their day. The act of giving kindness feels as good, if not better than receiving kindness. Spoil yourself and give some kindness, especially to those that really need it.

Reinforce

Like any skill, practice makes perfect. If someone sends a little kindness your way, make sure to recognize and appreciate the act of kindness bestowed unto you. The person giving the kindness may be new at the kindness game and need some encouragement to continue on their path of kindness. We also need to practice being gracious when we receive kindness as we don’t always think we deserve it… but you do! My only area of caution with reinforcing kindness is to beware of the infinite kindness loop, it’s a great place to be, but I’m sure we all have some work to do.

There you go. My modest request for a little more kindness, not just for World Kindness Day, but hopefully as a springboard for many days to come.