Kindness

​The new year is a time of setting personal and professional goals. But it is also a time of focusing our intentions for the coming year. For 2023, I have chosen to focus on kindness and joy. As the media constantly reminds us, quarantining and social distancing during the pandemic led to a dramatic loss of social skills in society. While it is certainly true that social isolation fed into this loss, I wonder if we have actually relegated pre-pandemic social norms to lesser importance. One of the social skills that seems to have taken the biggest hit is kindness. 

Bucking the trend, I have actually been the fortunate recipient of many kindnesses during the past year. Paying these kindnesses forward is top of mind for me. If you have you been the lucky recipient of unexpected kindness, I invite you to join me in paying it forward. Such kindnesses may have been receiving a cup of coffee paid for by the person ahead of you at Starbucks, as it was for me. Perhaps it was someone willing to give you a ride when you couldn’t drive. Or even a clerk or waitress who gave you exceptional and unexpected service with a genuine smile and extra assistance. Attending to our focus with intentionality can make the difference between taking these random acts of kindness for granted and relishing the opportunity to pass them along. 

Offering kindness to others gives me joy. So, I am committing to finding ways to offer kindness to others in 2023. Will you join me in this commitment and share in the joy I have found? With each act of kindness offered, we make the world a better place. And if you have been the lucky recipient of someone else’s kindness, I would love to hear your stories.