Hi there! [All previous message for this 21-day kindness adventure can be found here]
Today is day 9 of our kindness adventure and we’re still in the HOME venue. With the long list of suggestions provided on Monday, combined with your own imagination and creativity I trust you have been covering your home in a blanket of sweet kindness. 🙂
A few people have shared with me over the past days about the challenges of being kind with family and loved ones in the home venue. Let’s air that out for a moment.
Some people may immediately think upon reading that last sentence that it makes no sense to them – that it is very easy to be kind to those you love, “it should come so naturally,” they might have muttered. For some people this is the truth. Some may even be fear stricken at the thought of acts of kindness with strangers. We each have our reality, no doubt.
For some – and based on my experience with many people, this is quite common – kindness towards family is most challenging. Why would that be the case?
At home, with family we have an emotional investment of time, feelings, vulnerability, past hurts, unhealed wounds and un-forgiveness.
If these matters are not discussed and resolved in an honest and consistent fashion creating an atmosphere of love and kindness will be practically impossible. And performing acts of kindness in an unloving atmosphere will feel and be received as hypocritical.
But I suggest you ignore those feelings for a bit and continue with the acts of kindness. Just add a commitment to resolve the unresolved issues. Kindness need not ever cease. The particular act of kindness performed needs to be appropriate for the atmosphere but kindness itself is always necessary and never inappropriate. The uncomfortable feelings will go away when honest communication and forgiveness takes care of underlying issues.
So the HOME venue may in fact be a tough place for kindness to reign but I urge you to go beneath the surface of daily discourse and find those areas that needs mending. Make a commitment to have loving and honest conversations and make things better. Your home is where peace should prevail; “Make it so,” as Captain Picard of the Enterprise -for my Star Trek fans – would say. 🙂
Just make it so folks. It’s hard work but what a tremendous investment in your peace and joy…and if you have children at home, what a gift for them to receive! A kind of home you would be proud for them to emulate and create for their family one day.
So what to do today?
HOME venue:
- If there are matters to fix at home, commit to that process
- Sit with a loved one and have a long overdue conversation
- Write a love note and actually mail it to someone you live with
- Place a friendly and cheery lawn sign in your front yard or front window
- Give your friendliest neighbor a small gift of appreciation – plant, flower, cake, etc with a note of appreciation for how they brighten your day
- Review the suggestions from Day 7 and do a few you overlooked…
SELF venue:
- Write a note to yourself – This is what I love most about myself:______________________
- Place that note in a place where you will be sure to read it daily for the rest of this journey
And again, do something random, unplanned and wonderful for some lucky person you come in contact with today – or someone you think of out of the blue…
Wishing you a beautiful, loving and VERY kind day!
♥~