This notion has been very much on my mind lately. That I
need more space in my life to give kindness. I mean I give it often and in
large amounts to many many people. Mostly the close ones and the ones I love the
most, friends, family, colleagues. I am truly full of love. When I love you…I
really love you in general. You will
rarely be forgotten. Your needs will often make it to the top of my to do list
no matter what is happening in my own life. I am far from perfect but really
try hard to make my close people a huge priority in my life and have been very selective
over the years of who this love goes to and which relaionships I invest in.
One of my Bff’s
hubbies wrote me lately and told me that my texts make him feel super loved all
the time as I often remember his doctor apts, or job interviews of anything
else and take the time to connect and ask him about it. I took this as the
highest of compliments. It is what I strive to be in my life.
So the ones I love are covered in most instances I think.
But not the strangers or people in need. (at all) It’s funny most people I know
fall into one or the other buckets-much more consistent kindness to the close
ones they love or much more consistent kindness to the ones they don’t know as
well. It’s funny. And so easily identifiable too. I would love to be great at
both but I know that is a huge stretch as there is only so much time in a day. I
think that is why most people fall into more of one bucket or the other in
general. You can’t be good at everything all the time-there is only so much
energy in a person.
So when I was laid off at my work this was one of the
first things that occurred to me: Time to
be Kind.
At first I thought maybe shovel a neighbor’s driveway or do
some errands for someone in need or volunteer more often. But I realized it is
not those bigger things that for me I want to strive for yet. It is all the
small that can easily be done often. So that day I got laid off I started just
doing them daily and often.
Here’s a list so far of a few that come to
mind:
Hugging my boss with forgiveness before I left the
company
Being graceful in very very tough situations that most
people would have walked away from
Not holding a good friend at work responsible for knowing
before me.
Hugging the cleaning lady goodbye
Thanking the security and reception staff for all the
years of friendly service
Leaving beautiful quotes on my office door
Reaching out to someone in need even though I was so much
in need myself
Protecting a loved one from my bad news
Offering to coach a client‘s teenage daughter for free
Not letting my kids realize how broken my heart is right
now so they don't have the burden of worry
Making my stomach ache go away and not ruining our trip
Holding my husband capable of going on a trip and having fun without drinking anything
Saving someone’s flip flops from floating away in the
ocean
Letting my heart swell with happiness for others
Not being envious or jealous of others good fortune or
ease
Telling my husband exactly what I needed
Being kind to myself today and reading and relaxing and
sleeping
Touching strangers arms more often and looking into their
eyes and saying “Muchos Gracias”
It’s a whole bunch of things. And it feels good.
Today our first full day in Costa Rica the mood was light
and good. We had a super relaxed day on the beach and pool. I was not at all
expecting the beach to be so beautiful (or crowded!!!). The boys had two hour
surf lessons and loved it but exhausting. They have three more day of surfing
lessons. We swam in the waves with Beauty (huge huge waves) ate lunch the five
of us for our second amazing meal, lay on the beach and read, swam at the pool,
and now back at condo for some downtime. We will walk down the strip tonight and find a
cute local resto and buy some more groceries (three teens eat a lot!) I love how obsessesed with saving money for
us our kids are-we share all meals as they don’t want it to be expensive. Aww…
I love how our family is on vacation. I love how we treat
each other.Time to be kind. To ourselves, to each other and to others.
The first part of our trip is mostly relaxed and leisurely
and surfing. The second part is ADVENTURE. Zip lining in the jungle, white
water rafting, canyoning done a waterfall, ATV’s at a volcano, crocodiles and monkey
expedition on a kayak (still have not figured out how we don’t get eaten by a
crocodile or two???)
Time to be Kind. Yes it is.
PS-I like to add at the end of blog how the evening (actually) went.
The kids did not stay kind. Nope. Fights at dinner over us limiting technology
at the condo-even though this was planned out for months. Breaks my heart what
technology does to familiesL
Anyways food was AWESOME (went for the traditional Coast Rician resto and was
one of best meals ever eaten in my life) But the company kinda sucked. Oh Well!
Wanted to share the reality. Hopefully this morning the grumpies (guess who???)
are back to a better moods. Hint It is not Bear.
PSS-Pictures will likely only be added of trip after trip
so come back!
PSSS-We have not taken a single picture yet. Feels weird but
sooooo good just to live in the moment.
