On World Kindness Day, I started reflecting on the word ‘kind.’ It can mean a group with similar characteristics (aka ‘my kind’), and it can mean to be tender, courteous towards another (aka ‘be kind’).
Hopefully on World Kindness Day we don’t mean ‘my kind.’ We have enough separation going on already. Instead, I hope we mean kindness in the realm of compassion, self-compassion, mindfulness, empathy, paying it forward.
My Neuroscience of Leadership credentialing included exposure to meditation and compassion practices through the Emory Tibetan Science Initiative where the Dalai Lama is distinguished faculty. Now, truthfully, I’m no expert here. My mind is exhausted after all that wandering it does during meditation. Compassion and self-compassion require life-long work. And yoga is no-ga for me. I’ve tried and tried. I just can’t get into it.
What I am able to get into is remembering when someone was kind to me, and how that made me feel. I felt special.
On World Kindness Day, and beyond, I commit to making a stranger feel special.