Giving kindness away this Advent

I  have been encouraging all of us to think about a different kind of Advent calendar this year.

The focus of our Advent calendar this week is giving kindness.

Nothing new or original there of course. Lots about kindness here and here. Important stuff about kindness during the Covid pandemic, and kindness when our world seems to be literally falling apart. 

But it does us no harm to take a few minutes each day, in the busy run up to Christmas, to stop and see how we can bring something to enrich in some small way the lives of others. 

Every day this week where could you be giving kindness as your Advent awareness?

Perhaps a kind word to a struggling or frustrated colleague.

Maybe a message of encouragement to a friend, expressing specifically what you appreciate about them. 

Spend half an hour cleaning up the litter in your local area.

Write someone a card with a message of appreciation.

Try and give everyone you speak to today a small compliment. 

Be kind to our planet : have several meat free meals this week and turn down your thermostat by one degree. 

Rather than being hard on someone in your family, let things go and speak kind words of encouragement instead. 

Notice your own self-talk and instead of harsh critical words, speak to yourself kindly and with self acceptance. 

And as a gift of kindness to yourself, let these wonderful century old words from a prayer by Reinhold Neibuhr sink into your soul and remind you of the importance of taking responsibility for what is yours only, and the power of choosing your own response:

God grant me the serenity
To accept the things I cannot change;
Courage to change the things I can;
And wisdom to know the difference.

Giving kindness includes giving it to ourselves, and self awareness is part of that. This is a busy time of year. Give yourself kindness by not over expecting and letting go of perfectionism.