Kindness 2025

“My wish for you is that you continue.  Continue to be who and how you are, to astonish a mean world with your acts of kindness.  Continue to allow humour to lighten the burden of your tender heart.”  Maya Angelou

This week we are discussing kindness, and this quote came across my feed, and I thought “how appropriate”.  For me, kindness is a strong trait – one to be honoured and should be in the top ten.  Unfortunately, when I looked this up, according to live bold and bloom, it came in fifteenth and I wonder what makes it so uninteresting or unpopular? 

The survey that I looked at described kindness as a positive attribute of being considerate, helpful and benevolent to others.  The next sentence highlighted that this virtuous trait is motivated by a positive disposition and the desire for warm and pleasant interactions.

Is it that others, see kindness as a “soft” trait, warm and fluffy without any oomph or strengths?  I am not sure.  When I think of kindness, it doesn’t mean that we don’t have the courageous conversations, we look at both the positives and the negatives together.  Not just the bad.  We can have the difficult conversations, however, they may look a little different and the other person may feel differently at the end of it – than if it was more direct or hurtful.

I have noted over the years that kindness is not just giving or receiving.  It can be felt and/or seen by others.  One time I was working with a non-English speaking client through a telephone interpreter.  Whilst she could not understand my language, she certainly felt the kindness and care in my tone and expression – despite the difficult situation that we were conversing about.

I know for me, when presented with acts of kindness – they are very touching and bring a sense of warmth.  I have spoken in the past of being presented with a small posy of flowers when a client had passed by a colleague.  This along with the note, made me feel appreciated.  A bag of oranges whilst unwell, brought me to tears of joy.   A smile from a stranger can make me feel ten feet tall.

As Maya highlights in her quote, you can continue despite the burdens that are happening in and/or around you.  Acts of kindness can bring such enormous joy and change the life of a person – no matter how big or small.