Pebbles, Rocks and Sand – A Metaphor for Life Whatever choice you make makes you. Choose wisely. … Roy T. Bennett Let’s imagine a large glass jar. Next to it, a bowl of rocks – about 2 inches in diameter, a bowl of small pebbles, and a bowl of sand. Let’s imagine that we […]
Seeing Others Through a Kindness Lens The true greatness of a person is evident in the way he or she treats those with whom courtesy and kindness are not required. ~ Joseph B. Wirthlin Most people are kind, but circumstances often determine when and where we express our kindness. Someone is […]
The Gift of Listening to Each Other Being heard is so close to being loved that, for the average person, they are almost indistinguishable. David W. Augsburger If there were an easy way to expand the reach of your kindness in the world, would you want to use it? Listening is a skill that we all use, but most of us need a little guidance on how to […]
Let’s Be Better Humans When you get lost in the service of helping others, it’s a good place to get lost. Jon Linton After the death of a friend who had become homeless due to an addiction, Jon Linton wanted to do something to help the homeless in Phoenix, Arizona. He began to take photographs of people living on the street to document their plight, and he volunteered […]
Invite Awe and Wonder into Your Daily Life Every moment is unique, offering its own way to connect to what is deepest within us, to the wonder and mystery of being fully alive. Llewellyn Vaughan-Lee It is so easy to get caught up in the activity and demands of our daily lives that we […]
What Would Happen if Schools Taught Kindness? What would education look like if its purpose were not to create a workforce, but whole human beings? Parker Palmer Andy Smallman is a teacher who wrote his master’s thesis on “trying to empower children to take charge of their education.” He believed that allowing them to […]
Revolutionary Love in Response to Hatred This may be the world’s only hope for peace: that all of us, brothers and sisters and strangers alike, understand we meet as guests together in ‘God’s own tent.’ – Sister Marilyn Lacey – Balbir Singh Sodhi was the first person killed in the wave of thousands of acts of hatred that followed the 9/11 attack on the World Trade Center. The […]
Let’s Help Our Children To Be Kind Nothing can make our life, or the lives of other people, more beautiful than perpetual kindness. Leo Tolstoy The most important thing we need to do for our children and grandchildren is to provide a place where they feel safe and loved. Everything else we do is to help create that experience for them. Our job is to support […]
The Pause that Refreshes When we pause, allow a gap and breathe deeply, we can experience instant refreshment. … Pema Chödrön As we walk our kindness path, most days go smoothly, as we easily engage people with a pleasant comment, and they usually respond in kind. Some days, however, lead us to more challenging […]
How Can Healing Arise from Tragedy? Healing comes when you see the opportunity for growth that a painful situation has provided. Br. David Steindl-Rast This week has been difficult for many of us. As we try to wrap our minds around a deliberate mass murder of children, we find that we cannot. It is hard to imagine the devastating impact on the families of the children lost […]
Small Acts of Kindness Make a Big Difference The best portion of a good man’s life is his little, nameless, unremembered acts of kindness and of love. ~ William Wordsworth As we go through our day, we often have opportunities to be kind. Some require very little of us – a smile or a pleasant word. Others ask more from […]
The Kindness Impulse – An Uplifting Story There are no strangers here Just friends you haven’t yet met. … William Butler Yeats We are born with an innate tendency to connect with others. Larry calls it the kindness impulse. In our culture today, many people feel disconnected from each other, even at work and in their apartment building or neighborhood. Most of us are able to create connections […]
How Do We Bring Light into a World of Conflict? Act as if what you do makes a difference. It does. ~ William James As we participate in the emotional ups and downs of political reality in our country and observe the chaotic and sometimes horrific challenges that other people are facing around the world, we find ourselves in turbulent waters, swirling with hate, fear, anger, sadness, despair, […]
Uplifting Videos to Brighten Your Day Sometimes it takes only one act of kindness and caring to change a person’s life. ~ Jackie Chan Sometimes, kindness shows up in surprising ways. These brief videos show us a few different ways that people find to bring more love into their lives and the lives of others. For a very brief but heart-warming tribute to a beloved aunt, see […]
Living with Kindness Makes Life a Celebration One should never, but never, pass by an opportunity to celebrate. ― j d malouf Life offers us so many opportunities to celebrate. We usually think of celebrating special moments in our life journey – anniversaries, birthdays, major accomplishments. At these times, we stop and enjoy the moment. Sharing with others – the exchange of love and appreciation – enriches […]
Creating a Worldwide Kindness Community There are no strangers here, only friends you haven’t yet met … William Butler Yeats Creating a Culture of Kindness We are communal beings. We have an instinct to come together, but our culture has created economic and social conditions that separate us from one another. Many people feel isolated and […]
Changing to a Culture of Kindness The secret to change is to focus all of your energy, not on fighting the old, but on building the new. ~ […]
Compassion is the heart of Kindness Love and compassion are necessities, not luxuries. Without them humanity cannot survive. […]
Courage Empowers Our Kindness Journey Courage takes you out of your comfort zone and into your power center […]
Embrace Curiosity on Your Kindness Journey If you understand each other, you will be kind to each other. […]
We’re All Connected in the Web of Life We are here to awaken from our illusion of separateness. […]
Commitment to Kindness Becomes a Way of Life The true meaning of life is to plant trees under whose shade you do not expect to sit. […]
Living with Kindness Is a Choice What you do makes a difference, and you have to decide what kind of difference you want to make. – Jane Goodall – As Larry and I continue to explore what it means to us to live with kindness, we have discovered […]
The Power of the Stories We Tell Ourselves I believe we come to a new story […]
The Many Languages of Love All the people you haven’t told you love lately, tell them and live your days like you mean it. Hal Sutton There are many ways that we can express kindness in our relationships. Gary Chapman is an American pastor and relationship counselor. In his book, “The 5 Love […]
Videos of Kindness to Inspire You Sometimes it takes only one act of kindness and caring to change a person’s life. ~ Jackie Chan Sometimes, opportunities for kindness show up unexpectedly. Some are easy to meet, and others call on us to step up in ways we never anticipated. When an inmate in a county jail noticed the guard losing consciousness, he took action that may have […]
Thich Nhat Hanh – A Man of Peace “The present moment is filled with joy and happiness. If you are attentive, you will see it.” Thich Nhat Hanh, a world-renowned Vietnamese Buddhist monk died January 22, 2022 at his home in the Tu Hieu Temple in Hue, Vietnam at the age of 95. He was an influential Zen master, who dedicated his life to living and teaching compassion, […]
Be Kind to Yourself “Almost everything will work again if you unplug it for a few minutes, including you.” … Anne Lamot With everything going on in the world right now, it is so easy to feel overwhelmed. When we find ourselves feeling scattered, going […]
