People are kind

I went to a shop to get my car's battery charged but forty minutes later it was apparent that I'd be needing a new battery entirely. There was so much corrosion on one of the terminals that if the poor lad helping me had pulled any harder it would have ripped the guts out of my battery.

It was a day that could have been warm if it wasn't for the icy wind, but the sunshine really didn't do much to help. My girls were cold so we spent a lot of time in the car while this dedicated employee did everything he could to help me. 

And even though he spent nearly two hours in the cold, figuring out how to fix things, he didn't charge me for his labor.

That was very, very kind.

One day at the store

Yesterday I was at a store with the family. The children were having a hard time—maybe because it was later in the afternoon—and one of my girls was kicking her feet, crying to be let out of the cart. (Okay, they were both crying. But this story is only about one of them.)

Suddenly a man tapped me on the shoulder to hand me a little snow boot that had fallen on the ground. My daughter had kicked her boot off during her tantrum and I hadn't even noticed! I probably wouldn't have noticed until we were very much on our way, and quite honestly the time it would take to get back to the boot might have been the end of my sanity.

But this man saved the day by helping me out and handing me a little boot. He could have ignored the haggard woman with the obnoxious children, but instead of judging me worthy to struggle on my own he lent a hand. And it helped me to calm down and remember to keep my patience with the people I love most.

He made a difference because he had compassion.

Acts of kindness, each and every day

Yesterday my daughters and I were on the bus. One of them was crying because as we ran to catch the bus she dropped a rock she had found earlier (and was planning on keeping forever and ever). Now it was gone forever and ever, and she knew it.

I apologized profusely for leaving the rock behind but explained there really was no going back. A woman who sat across from us suddenly handed my crying child a mini chocolate bar. And then her hand went back into her pocket and pulled out a second candy for my happy (and suddenly happier) child.

I don't know this woman and probably never will, but she was very quick to have compassion and I am grateful for her example and good heart.

Her example helped me to be a kinder mother and renewed my patience tank so that it lasted throughout the day. She made a difference.

***

I began this blog because I struggle with anxiety and I have recently figured out some triggers that make the anxiety worse. Unkindness is one of them. Anger is another. Violence is yet another.

There are lots of things that I have learned to avoid when I don't want to feel anxious and powerless. The news and Facebook are two of the biggest. I can't control what other people say or do, but I can control what I say, what I do, and what I think about.

Enter: THIS BLOG. I want to focus on kindness. Compassion. I know that it's everywhere and happens all the time, and it's up to me to focus on it.

Yes, there are horrible things that happen every day, all over the world, and it is important to be involved and help the people around us. But it helps to remember that while violence and anger start somewhere, so do goodness and love.

And just like an earthquake starts at an epicenter and radiates its effects outward, I'd like to become my own epicenter of peace and compassion. I feel that one way for me to battle the anger and unkindness is to spread love.

I'm going to focus on the compassion that I see around me and then let it radiate from me, too.

Because—even in my little way—I want to help heal the world. I don't have the words or influence to change minds in big, fancy ways. And even if I did it would probably trigger my anxiety and leave me (feeling) pretty useless. But I can recognize the compassion around me, let it make a difference in my life, and then turn around and be compassionate to the people around me.