Our kindness transforms us
The most important aspect of intentional kindness is not what it does for others, but how it changes us. We suddenly see our own “kindness blindness”—those areas we were impatient, irritated, sarcastic, defeatist or distracted that we simply didn’t notice before! Sometimes that blindness even extends to unkindness towards ourselves. And being gracious to others can echo back to us in unexpected, powerful ways.
One friend of mine has made it a habit to say hello to the people she crosses paths with on her morning run. As an introvert, it’s not her natural inclination by any means, but she chooses to make the effort. It is one simple little way of purposefully projecting kindness into a needy world. Some people respond, some don’t, and my friend could be excused for wondering if such a fleeting interaction was making any actual impact.
One young woman she regularly passed on her trail run seemed like an example of a lost cause: she always had her head down and never made eye contact… but time after time, my friend said hello anyway.
One day in the parking lot afterwards, my friend was shocked to see that young woman coming toward her. She introduced herself and poured out her story—she had been laid off, was looking for a new place to live, and was using running to help herself through it all. She thanked my friend and said her constant encouragement had really mattered to her, even though she had never shown it before now.
As you can imagine—my friend was herself encouraged and emboldened by hearing this. Both women were impacted by the most basic choice to step outside a comfort zone and simply say hello.
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