So there are only three days left in Random Acts’ 2018 AMOK ("a melee of kindness" - see blog post from 29th June 2018 for more info).
And here are some of the changes I’m noticing about myself and my way in the world, as a result of participating in a month of daily acts of intentional kindness.
I have spent a lot more time this past month focused on how I can add beauty, gentleness, and kindness to the world instead of being fixated on all the aggression I see. This feels like a softening.
I remain an ardent doer of anonymous random acts of kindness. A month of posting daily about my activities has not gotten more comfortable.
From this month-long challenge I have made long-term and ongoing commitments to kindness that will go on long after the days of this challenge have faded:
Helping to organize a small group of us to ring bells as community service
Taking beauty to people who are institutionalized in less than desirable settings
Continuing to give away around my community the blessings cards I made
Focusing on deep kindness, intentional acts of kindness, as a habit
Being mindful of kindness as an effort, a practice, not just when it feels convenient
And what lingers within as I move toward the “finish line” of thirty consecutive days of publicly participating in a kindness endeavor are the following:
Even when life is fast and full, kindness is possible. It is imminently and easily possible.
A fast-paced and aggressive world needs the “slowing” of attentive kindness.
Kindness is a choice; civility is mandatory.
Kindness can take an infinite variety of forms and is adaptable to any situation, any person, any nonhuman living being.
Kindness can take an infinite variety of forms and is adaptable to any situation, any person, any nonhuman living being.
I encourage you to find those many small ways we can make a positive difference, a kind and friendly one, and engage them as often as you are able.
The thing about kindness is that we need it!
The thing about kindness is that we need it!
All blog images created & photographed by Jennifer J. Wilhoit unless otherwise noted. Please circulate images with photo credit: "©2018 JenniferJWilhoit/TEALarbor stories. AllRightsReserved."
