Be kind (plus, a new painting)

“No act of kindness, no matter how small, is ever wasted” – Aesop  

Recently I decided I needed a new angel card. These little cards, when picked during a moment of stillness and contemplation, are so great at helping to frame my day. You can find them here.

I pulled the Kindness card.

As I thought about the Kindness card, my first reaction was to think why kindness? I think I’m a kind person. What else do I need to learn?

And then came the second, more instinctual reaction: how kind are you to yourself? 

Of course, that answer is mixed.

I do kind things: I try to listen to my body. I work hard to keep my schedule from getting too overwhelming. I follow my dreams.

But I also do un-kind things: I consistently stay up late working when I should be sleeping. I criticize myself in the mirror. I hold myself to a ridiculously high standard of success and feel badly when I can’t reach it.

So, I’m writing this today because I want all of us to remember this simple truth:

It’s so critical to be kind. Always to each other, but more importantly to ourselves.

This is an especially important lesson to me this week as I started experimenting with video.

I could choose not to share this little video clip with you because I don’t have the right knowledge yet to make a professional video and hearing my own voice makes me feel silly. I could also choose to be kind to myself, give myself a high five for trying something new, and show you anyway.

So, here we go! This is all part of the journey, my friends. My suggestion: watch this on full screen as it’s easier to see the detail.

What do you think? Should I experiment with doing longer painting videos?

And here’s the final painting, Horizon, the newest in my abstract series:

To growth and kindness,