“Kindness starts - and ends - with YOU!!” Last Friday was the end of our 1 Year Anniversary Celebration of The Kind Leader! Here's what the KLT (Kind Leader Tip) was: Be Kind to Yourself! No one (and no leader) is perfectly kind all the time! Before anyone is anything else, they are a human being. And all human beings make mistakes, get frustrated and hangry, and don’t act as kindly as they intended to. When that happens, apologize to the person you weren’t as kind as you wanted to be to; make things right, and then… Look into yourself and figure out what triggered your unkind action, word or reaction. Then make a plan to work on strategies to help alleviate those triggers (like eating a snack mid-afternoon)! Don’t beat yourself up, and add unkindness to unkindness, do some introspection and reflection and practice some more! You can’t change other people or force them to act, speak and think kindly. You can kindly work on your own actions, reactions, words and thoughts, though! When you practice kindness to others, and accept and help them with their imperfections and mistakes, you will learn more about empathy and compassion and how to apply it to yourself! That’s why kindness really does start - and end - with you!
And please remember, while some people think that you need to learn to be kind to yourself before you can be kind to others, I think it's the opposite way around.
Being kind to others, (acting, speaking and thinking kindly) requires you to practice empathy and compassion. And by practicing empathy and compassion, you learn how to apply those skills to yourself. So, if you feel like you are having a hard time being kind to yourself, please practice kindness to others!