Thoughts on Kindness and Small Efforts

There’s time for it. It doesn’t take all day.

It doesn’t have to cost anything, really. Even if you’re one of those people (like me) who show their love through foodstuffs made of white flour and butter, there’s always the option of NOT BAKING.

Smiling at people is not the hardest thing you’ll do today, but if you smile at me, it will make my day. See how easy that is? (Unless you’re one of those people cursed with an obviously insincere smile — that smile that screams “I DON’T MEAN THIS! I DON’T EVEN LIKE YOU!” I can actually tell. As can pretty much everyone else in the world. Try harder to mean it, even if it is the hardest thing you’ll do today.)

When I correct my Kids’ hideous behaviour, I can actually do it kindly. (Not saying I do. Just that I can. And [note to self] I should.)

You know that thing? The one called the benefit of the doubt? It helps. Giving it, I mean. Because it takes a small effort to assume that the things meant were gentler than the things done or said. And then, bingo. Benefit of doubt.

I assume that I’m not the only one who has kind thoughts far more often than she acts on her kind intentions. Am I wrong? I think not. So here’s an easy follow-through. Text. I love text messaging. It is SO EASY for me to send a one-liner with a few words of encouragement or apology or just thinkiness. And as we know, I’m all about the easy. (If I weren’t so lazy, I’d have this printed on vinyl and stuck on my wall: “I’m all for the kind of kindness that’s not inconvenient.”)

If you’re a little more awesome than I, you send an entire email. Instant, paid for, and convenient – because we’re already on the computer many hours of the day, right?

If you’re far more awesome than I, you can send a note. On paper. In the mail. Does receiving a piece of mail like that make you so full of giddiness you can’t stand it? Me, too. My SIL is the queen of the mailed note. I love her for it. A whole lot.

I may have become one of those people who strikes up conversations with strangers in the grocery market, pointing out my favorite foods (mainly ice cream, because who doesn’t want a new ice-cream-related vice?) and asking for advice (grocery market related advice, not the other kinds). It’s pretty easy to tell if the stranger is pleased, and if she is, yay. And if she isn’t, no biggie. Bye, now. And I’ll grab another bucket of Blue Bunny Bordeaux Cherry Chocolate.

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I know you probably don’t need this. It’s just a reminder for me. Because I need to remember that it’s not so hard when it feels like it’s SO HARD.