“Three things in human life are important. The first is to be kind. The second is to be kind. And the third is to be kind.”
~Henry James

Life gets very, very busy – and as we all get more self-involved and spend our time reacting to the tasks in front of us, we forget a true essence of life. Human connection. We become “doers” – getting things done, crossing things off of our check-list, taking care of the business at hand, answering our emails, checking our BlackBerrys, rushing to finish tasks and move on.

In that flurry of “doing,” we often forget about “being.” Being the kind of person that we know we are and can be – a person who can connect with others with a bit of kindness and warmth. We forget to take the extra minutes to check in on how someone is doing or feeling, to ask for things nicely, to look up from our work and focus on the person talking to us, to notice the person who sells us our newspaper or who lives with us every day, to stand in the moment as two human beings who both can benefit from the kindness and care of each other.

When I take a few minutes in my day and remember that the person I’m interacting with, like me, has hopes, dreams, likes, dislikes, worries, warmth in their heart, things they need to get done, fears, and kindness to share, I can truly connect, person to person, with kindness. And my day and my life are enriched.

Stop at least once a day and check in on your kindness ratio. Find a way to approach a moment or an interaction with more kindness, and notice the difference you’ve made in both your life and the life of the other person.

Where and how can you be kinder? To others? To yourself?
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If you want to find a way to offer more kindness, contact Robyn at rmcleod@chatsworthconsulting.com.

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