Recently, I experienced a loss in my family and have been moving through the process of grief that naturally comes with that.  What I’ve been touched by, so deeply, has been the outpouring of cards, phone calls and emails conveying condolences and words of kindness that have moved me deeply.  Every one of these people, in taking the time to reach out to me, has given me yet another gift of support.

All this got me to thinking, again, about the power of kindness.  There is an energy, a quality, in kindness, that enfolds others in a sense of comfort and well-being.  For example, when we take the time to reach out and say a kind word, or send a card expressing our feelings, or do some small task for someone because it will help them out, we engage an energy that makes a difference in the quality of our lives – and of those with whom we share our acts of kindness.

And so, for this week’s experiment, I invite you to notice moments when you might express kindness in some way.  The beauty of having kindness as a companion is that your actions or words don’t need to be dramatic or major.  Small acts of kindness can touch someone very deeply, so allow yourself to notice when you want to do something seemingly inconsequential, like touching someone’s arm when they’re distressed or leaving a voicemail that offers sympathy or support or sending a note to someone who’s lonely. 

Also, notice your internal dialogue, the ongoing self-hypnosis that we all have in our heads all the time, and pay attention to what happens when you ask yourself to focus on kind thoughts, kind fantasies, on the presence of kindness inside you.  Then, notice what happens as your day unfolds as you experience it through the filter of kindness.  Bringing kindness into the foreground of your awareness colors how you perceive and respond.  Any quality that sits in the foreground becomes the filter through which we move through a day, and for this week, I invite you to explore what it’s like to have kindness “in front of you” as you engage your daily activities.

As you play with kindness, notice, as well, the sensations you experience in your body, the quality of your emotional responses, and the tone of your thinking.  How does living with kindness color your life?  How does it shape your responses throughout the day?  What do you feel like by the end of the day when you’ve spent it dancing with kindness?

As with all the experiments, remember to bring along curiosity as your constant companion and to allow any judgments to be as insubstantial as clouds passing by.  The gift of taking the time to explore these experiments is increased conscious awareness of how you move through your days.  And, the gift of conscious awareness is that you have the moment-to-moment opportunity to choose how you want to engage what comes your way.