Monday, June 9, 2008

Creativity Exercise: Beyond Random Acts of Kindness

I was visiting my friend Duana in the hospital last week, and she told me this latest hospital stay had forced her to cancel a visit with a former colleague. She was truly disappointed: The scheduled visit was important to her -- it was part of her plan to "do something nice for someone every single day."

Consider that. Her objective -- as she fights invasive breast cancer and related issues -- isn't to replace random acts of kindness. Her objective is to supplement those with planned actions.

Duana has been my mentor for years. This week, let her be yours. Bring kindness fully forward in your consciousness. Say something nice in the grocery check-out line. Let that car pass you. Grin at someone on the elevator.

My guess is, nice runs in circles.

4 comments:

Leslie said...

Jan, thanks for this gentle reminder. Your friend sounds like a very special person.

Jan said...

Duana is amazing. I like to call myself her short daughter ... I think I'll write a post for next week about how I met her.

Anonymous said...

what a nice way to start the week-something we all should strive to do and it is amazing what a difference a smile or kind word makes.

Jan said...

You all are hearing from women who define "kind" in today's comments.

FYI, I had a post-post thought. The examples I gave were more random acts examples. Duana is talking about really planning something: Taking a friend you haven't seen for years to lunch. Sending a "thank you" note to someone for a gift you received years ago, and still enjoy. Baking cookies for the neighbors -- just because you know they love your cookies.