A Call For Kindness
A Call for Kindness
Imagine that you are having a bad day, nothing seems to go right, you’re slowly but surely losing your composure and getting drawn deeper and deeper into that foggy place where no good thoughts or feelings seem to help to get you out of it.
How does this affect your responses or reactions when you interact with people? Especially someone you don’t know. How about the bus driver that is a bit late, or the waiter that has a lukewarm attitude taking your order? What about your friend that doesn’t reply to your messages but has left you on seen for a while?
It’s like there is just one more moment before you feel yourself stumbling down the ravine of negativity, a sure way to enhance what you are feeling beyond your own internal landscape and perhaps it lashes out at someone else without any restraint.
We’ve all had those days where nothing has seemed to work, as if everything and everyone is conspiring against us (or so we feel). But then perhaps a moment shifts, when we’ve latched ourselves onto this downward spiral of doom and gloom, where all of a sudden a compliment or a kind smile, or a beautiful text appears, and just like that we see an opening in the clouds and sudden warmth fills us up, as if we are being seen for the very first time, as if someone finally gets us and our utterly confused mind.
Perhaps that was just the kind of kindness that we needed, the chisel that found the crack in our negativity armor that slowly started crumbling down to expose ourselves in vulnerability. And maybe that person didn’t actually know that this was just what you needed at that moment, but here they are, with a call for kindness.
The Point being this, We Never Really Know What is Going on with Someone Else at Any Given Moment
That bus driver who was late might have had a really rough night and was doing their best, and the waiter might be going through a breakup, and that friend of yours that didn’t reply back was on a call with their grandmother whom they hadn’t seen in ages and was really ill.
Therefore a call for kindness is what we need in these moments, and this is not something that we give out exclusively to people in need, but do it for the simple fact that it helps, no matter how we feel. Being kind is not difficult, and it doesn’t require a lot. A gentle smile, or a helping hand, your undivided attention to listen, picking up soup for someone who’s bedridden, taking a friend out for dinner, these are all simple gestures of kindness.
I’ve gone through some tough times myself lately, and in these moments of need, a friendly text asking “How are you, Foxy?” or a student sharing their experience with me, are just a few of the moments where I got that helping hand to get up from that dark place of negativity. And then there were moments where even within my own struggles, offering kindness was the way for me to get myself out of it too.
You see, kindness is like a balance account you can never run out of, and it doesn’t cost you anything to give it. Your kindness might be just the thing someone needs at that moment, and it might be just what you need at some point too. I can’t even count the times I’ve taken myself out of a negative space simply by being kind to others.
One Great Way of Doing it is by Listening
That can be listening to your own thoughts while you meditate, it can be observing your thoughts while you journal, it can be as simple as just taking a walkout in nature. It doesn’t need to be another person, it actually starts with yourself and the kindness you can offer internally.
And when it comes to other people, listening is a great start. The times I’ve listened to friends sharing about their experiences, I could begin to relate to them, find similarities and insights that showed me that I wasn’t alone in my own experience. And so, just by hearing someone else out, it has shifted my own perspective many times.
In that moment, when kindness is offered, I’m pretty sure that this will impact and support you and whomever you speak with immensely. When it comes to people we just meet briefly, offering a smile or a kind word could change their perspective in an instant. What if you became that stranger that made someone’s day? And what if they passed that on to the next person they meet?
The ripple effect of kindness has no bounds, yet somehow it is a rarity in many places. What if we commit to share an act of kindness each and every day? What would that look like for you? How would that feel like for the person receiving it?
This is my call for kindness, that we can never know what each and every person is going through, and that we can offer them as simple as a kind gesture to help them feel seen, heard, and felt. Because if you remember the time when someone did this to you, each act of kindness will grow and grow and thus we all help each other to climb out of that ravine of negativity once more.
I hope that this resonates with you, and that you give and receive kindness in many wonderful ways today!
About the Author
Chris Fox is a mobility specialist and movement coach focusing on joint health, body awareness, and how to reduce pain with active bodywork. With the Fox Method, he helps people to get a stronger connection to their body, by isolating joint awareness, activating body control, and integrating healthier movement habits.
If you want to work on your mobility and stability, increase more body awareness and reduce pain to feel more light and alive, you can contact Chris for a session: thisischrisfox@gmail.com
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