Kindness

I’m just home from a dear friend’s one-year anniversary of sobriety party. The invitation said, “Please come to help me celebrate the nicest thing I have ever done for myself.” I was so struck by that, my heart swelled with joy that made me cry. It woke wonder in me about “being nice” and what constitutes kindness. How sometimes kindness calls me to diminish something from my life, other times it is to increase something.
 
This past year has been a lot about both. Making choices every day that decrease negativity & increase possibility and collaboration. One of my favorite books is An Astronauts Guide to Life on Earth. In it, Chris Hadfield talks about his attitude as a kid. How he knew he wanted to be an astronaut and how, as a Canadian, the possibilities were slim. But that even as a little boy, he’d make choices based on that future that he saw for himself. “Would an astronaut have cereal or eggs for breakfast?” “Would an astronaut do his homework or go watch cartoons?” He admits how it’s kind of uncanny, this thinking, for a little kid. And the fact that he actually became an astronaut is kind of wild. But what made me think about it today is thinking about kindness, our futures, and giving life to what we desire to create.
 
This past year has been one of healing and building. Accepting grief into my heart as a part of life rather than something I have to ‘’get over.’’ Welcoming in juicy love, laughter, fun, and curiosity (to name a few things). Kindness comes in the form of me asking myself how my choices are congruent with the life I want to create. Congruent with the me I am now, plus a healthy dose of curiosity and adventure. Leaving room for the universe (God, the Divine, Love) to provide magic and surprises beyond what I can dream.