My son is almost four and in preschool. One day recently he came home and told us one of the things his teachers tell the classroom. He said, “We are supposed to breath and say: Kind heart, kind thoughts, kind words.” I love it and we now say it all the time at home. Especially when he starts to lose control or get upset. I’ve even added another similar mantra as we do bedtime routine each night: “Quiet heart, quiet thoughts, quiet words.”
My four year old is teaching me just what I myself need to hear. To stop, breathe and think, “Am I having a kind heart, kind thoughts, and kind words?”
As I think about tomorrow being Thanksgiving Day in the United States I think about gratitude but I also think about kindness. How are you being kind to yourself? What thoughts, feelings and words are spinning in your mind? You might be with your family and bathed in the warmth and love. Or you might be with family and ready to clobber your siblings, parents, or in-laws. What if wherever you are on Thanksgiving you pause and look at the thoughts you are choosing to think. What story are you telling yourself? That you are frustrated with your family, or that you have a warm place to be, with a bounty of food, and community. It might not look exactly the way you want, but there is always abundance all around us.
Start tomorrow with a kind heart, kind thoughts, and kind words both for yourself and those around you.
