Heroes Not Zombies

Was that a kind thought, a kind word, or a kind action?

I think kindness is a good standard for us to measure our thoughts, words and actions against.

I’m more impressed with a reflection on how kind something was than how it fits in a batch of statistics. I know kindness is not measurable, but then neither is love, care or respect, but that doesn’t matter. We don’t need to attribute a number to it to know just how kind, loving or caring a thought, word or action was.

And let me be absolutely clear here – “you have to be cruel to be kind” is utter nonsense. You have to be kind to be kind.

It’s easy to become overwhelmed by all the stories of cruelty, violence and neglect in the world, but we are surrounded every day by ordinary people acting kindly towards others.

And hey, even if we don’t seem to be, you can still choose to be, yourself.

So when you’re thinking of starting a new journal in the new year, maybe you’ll include a gratitude section to note what you’re thankful for, but I think it’s also good to note what kind thoughts you had today, what kind words and kind actions you experienced today – both those carried out by you, and by others.

Here’s the mirror I want to look in each day next year – the one that inspires me to reflect on kindness, love, care and respect.