I’m going a little off normal topic i.e. no running related musings, but I did borrow the title from the theme of a running friend’s post so that will have to do.
It’s that time of year again – that WONDERFUL time of year – when, as long as you can keep breathing and not stab the woman who abruptly stops in the middle of the grocery isle, you may actually pause and offer some more kindness toward your fellow beings this season.
In all seriousness we know this is a stressful time of year but somehow the glow of twinkle lights, red bows, green wreaths, and the smell of evergreens put most of us in a better mood. My question for all of you, why just these 30 days? What is so hard about doing something nice for someone? Doing something nice without a big announcement about how nice you are being because it’s just HOW you act? It’s a challenge that I know has been thrown out there year-after-year-after-year…”keep that holiday spirit going AFTER the holidays”…so due to our societal failure in this regard it must be impossible. Or is it?
I have been thinking about this a lot over the last week and deciding how I would approach the topic here. This where I have landed:
Perhaps it’s the ordeal or the production that we make “being kind” out to be during this season that makes it so impossible to sustain. Do we need to donate 30 bags of food to a pantry every month? Probably not. However, two $1 cans of non-perishable food would do more than you think and would be 2 more cans than they had before you walked in.
I’ve been a firm believer of karma – positive and otherwise – since I was a young kid. Here’s the kicker though, I have learned that for the positive karma to really run its course the good or, in this specific case, the kindness, must be a true altruistic act and therefore must be done silently. In this world of social media where we share and post every aspect of our lives with our “clostest” family and friends this takes A LOT of restraint. Even more, it takes a lot of patience. Karma works on it’s own clock. Let us take advantage of the opportunities presented to us THROUGHOUT the year to take care of each other, to give thanks for those around us, to brighten someone’s day, to be kind, so that as the broader positive karma grows and spreads we may truly see that good does still win.
Wishing you and yours a wonderful Thanksgiving! May you enjoy this time together – as crazy as it may be 🙂
feedthesoles 