Thursday, March 17, 2011

The last 3 weeks of kindness

My weekly posts need to become more of a priority. I apologize for the lack of time i have put into posting, however this does not affect my intentional acts that i continue to focus on each week.

I have truly found this to be one of the most challenging resolutions i have set for myself. I'm sure some would scoff that and say "how hard can helping others be?" and honestly it isn't the fact of helping others, but more so coming up with intentional acts that i deem worthy, and being consistent on my follow through. I have found that by focusing on others, i feel better about myself and the role model that i set out to be for my kids. I have noticed how my oldest daughter is starting to make more of an effort to help those around her - which can be a difficult take for a 4 year old (when they feel that the world revolves around them). The other day as we were going into her school, she held the door open for at least 10 others that passed through. Each one acknowledged her helpfulness and commented. She replied to one lady "I am just beng kind, like my mommy". Defiantely a heart-warming moment for me.

The last three weeks of kindness have been wonderful!
Act 7: My daughter came home for school and remind me how much she loves to learn. The level of enthusiasm that i see on her face daily when she is able to correctly add a few numbers, or identify some of the newest shapes she has learned, or read a word in a book, solidifies to me that she has "wonderful" teachers that care about her. I asked my daughter what she wanted to do to celebrate her teachers and she told me that flowers would be nice and smell good. So off to the grocery store we went and purchased 3 sets of flowers for the teachers. Breana picked each set out and wrote a little note saying "Thank You for helping me learn". A little gesture goes a long way!

Act 8: This was one that i can not take any credit for and wasn't even present, but my daughter's teacher explained the story to me. It was just after circle time at school and one of the little boys was looking a little sad. Breana went up to him and asked him if he needed a hug. I guess he accepted and Breana held on for longer then would have been deemed acceptable. When the teacher approached Breana informing her that she needed to let go, she responded that if she hugged him longer then he would feel better and she wanted to see him smile again. I heard that and my heart smiled!

Act 9:  As with everything in life, there needs to be BALANCE. I made the decision this past week to focus on personal kindness as an opportnity for self growth. I believe that in helping others, we also need to recognize the importance to help ourselves as well. My intentional act was to take some time and write a letter to myself. This may sound strange, but in end, i found it truly rewarding and thereputic. I wrote a letter to myself with the purpose of forgiving myself for a past regret. I wanted to tell myslef it was okay to be forgiven instead of beating myself up with negative self talk when i am feeling down. As a person who deals with depression on a daily basis, medication can only do so much, it is important to look at myself in a positive light and recognize that i am worthy. This was a milestone that i needed to pass and in turn have let go and forgiven myself.

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