31 Days of Learning to Breathe: Inhaling and exhaling kindness

I thought I'd end this series that ended up being 19 days of writing instead of 31, but you know what? I'm okay with that. It's a lot more than I was typically writing and these challenges stir me to get back on the bandwagon, whatever it ends up looking like. Goodness...at this rate, I'll be two days past the 31st. On the 31st I was gone most of the day and then our daughter's boyfriend came over and we played games. Then Wednesday I was gone, had plans to finish the post and then my hubby strained his calf and I had to meet him at Urgent Care. Then we had company for dinner, sooooo this post may or may not be posted Wednesday night....it might be Thursday. Who really knows. Yep it's Thursday now and post still isn't up. Got to do it this morning or it won't happen again as we have an event at my hubby's work this afternoon. 

Anyways, I thought I'd end it talking about kindness. In September I heard about something called the Beyond Kindness Tour and I was drawn in. I wrote a few posts about it here, and here.  Then we started this challenge and it was too much to write about the weeks' focus points. You can also go to the official website for more. Kindness seems to be what this world is really searching for. Kindness, love, understanding. 

There are so many ways we can breathe in kindness and exhale kindness to others and to ourselves. On the website for the Beyond Kindness Tour are print outs for each week with practical ways to show kindness in the focus area for that week. I love it. Along with stories from their journey around the United States. I encourage you to check it out. Sometimes we get so wrapped up and consumed with our day to day lives that we just forget to show intentional kindness to ourselves and to others. It's not that we are un-kind, but we just aren't "thinking" about it. We aren't looking for ways to extend kindness. 

Over the last several weekends, I had the opportunity to work at my son-in-laws family pumpkin patch. I spent the time in a booth selling tickets for hay rides and pumpkin bowling. I spent a lot of time people watching. Observing kindness, and even unkindness (unfortunately). I also had the opportunity to show kindness. Sometimes it's not always easy to show kindness. Sometimes it's just downright hard, even if we are extremely prone to being kind. We're tired, worn out, people are annoying us (come on, it's true). Sometimes it's really hard to show kindness to those closest to us. We're more comfortable with them, feeling like it's easier to let our guard down. 

It is worth our time to be intentional with kindness. We never know what kind of an impact that kindness will have on others and/or ourselves. It truly is often the littlest things that make the biggest difference. A few weeks ago the lady I work for was having a rough time. On a particular day of that week, I was bringing a little boy we babysit to work with me (she loves this little guy and I knew it would cheer her up). We first stopped at the store and bought her flowers, just a simple bouquet. It meant the world to her. It spoke value and love to her spirit. Sometimes it's sending a note, smiling, waving, letting someone go ahead of us, paying for someone's coffee, giving the mom with a fussy child a smile, nod and a pat on the arm to let her know it's okay and you understand. 

Take time this week to be intentional with your kindness, really pay attention to it. 

With Joy Unquenchable,