Bits of Kindness

I have this little book called Highlighted in Yellow: A short course in living wisely and choosing well. The very first chapter is on kindness. It lists out thirty four different ways to show kindness on a day to day basis. The end of the chapter offers you a bit of homework to work on in the week ahead.

All thirty four ways are great, and I highly recommend you pick up a copy of the book for yourself.

Here are five of my favorites:

1. Smile a lot. It costs nothing and is beyond price.
"They might not need me, but they might; I'll let my head be just in sight. A smile as small as mine might bePrecisely their necessity." -Emily Dickinson  

2. Call a nursing home or retirement center and ask for a list of the residents who seldom get mail or visitors. Send them a card several times a year. Sign it, "Someone who thinks you are very special".
"Alone and without love we die. Life itself is as dependent on relationships with other as it is on food." -M.N. Beck  

3. Whenever you hear an ambulance siren, say a prayer for the person inside.
"More things are wrought by prater than this world dreams of." -Alfred, Lord Tennyson 

4. Make a habit to do nice things for people who'll never find out.
"That best portion of a good man's life, his little, nameless, unremembered acts of kindness and of love." -William Wordsworth 

5. When going through the checkout line, always ask the cashier how she's doing.
"Nothing is ever lost by courtesy. It is the cheapest of pleasures, costs nothing, and conveys much. It pleases him who gives and him who receives and this, like mercy, is twice blessed." -Erastus Wiman

Here is to health, adventure, and trusting God

Preface 

Every year after the clock strikes I wait for that aha moment; that moment where all of a sudden I want to wake up at 6am, go for a run, be productive, and lose 10lbs. I am waiting for all that in a single clock change. When it comes down to it there is no aha moment. At least not for me. What I have come to realize is that aha moment can come anytime, any day of the year. It is all in the mind. None of this has to do with clock flipping to 12:00. No, it can happen at 4:04 in the afternoon if you want it to.

Here is to health, adventuring, and trusting God 

Do not get me wrong, I like the new year. I too treat it as a time to look back at the year past, and to look to the year ahead. Every New Year's Eve I make a trip to Mt. Pisgah (the "mountain of Holland", which is a big sand dune). I trudge my way 100+ stairs, take in the view of Big Red for a brief second, and then make my way down the trail.

Then I divert.

I know, I am one for rule following, but this is the one time I break them. I squeeze between two fences and work my way to the dune's edge. I find a spot; a spot where fellow dune climbers won't spot the girl who jumped the fence. I nestle down, pull out my journal, and write.

I write of the good, bad, and uglies from the past year. And then I turn the tables and write of the year ahead. I always take a tiny piece of paper with me, and on that paper I jot down my goals for the year ahead. I take a couple pictures of the paper, fold it into a square, and bury it in the sand. Before I bury it I say a prayer, praying for the goals scrawled across that tiny paper. My hope has always been that when times get tough, I can come back to that spot. It has been a challenge since I now spend most of my time 8 hours away.

This year I have three goals. First, to be healthier. Second, to adventure more. Third, to trust God.

So here is to a new year. One filled with the good and bad, the joys and tears.

A year of health and adventure.

A year to trust God.

Conclusion

Don't wait for that aha moment, BE the aha moment.