Be Kind: A Year of Kindness One Week at a Time is written by Melissa Burmester and Jaclyn Lindsey, the founders of Kindness.org. The book is based on their mission to “educate and inspire people to choose kindness.”
The book is divided into 52 weeks, and for each week there’s something to learn, do, and reflect on. There are quotes, research findings, Q&A’s, and stories submitted to Kindness.org, and the targets of kindness include the self, others, and the planet.
Some of the kind actions suggested were giving blood, responding with kindness to a negatve post online, and letting a stranger go ahead of you in line. My favourite quote in the book was “if you want to lift yourself up, lift up someone else” (Booker T. Washington). And did you know that spending money on others lowers blood pressure and brings greater happiness than spending money on yourself?
The book has beautiful watercolour backgrounds, so it’s aesthetically pleasing as well as having inspirational content. It would make a lovely gift.
Moving on from the book but staying on the same topic, I continue to be impressed by the kindness shown by people in the blogging community. It wasn’t something I was expecting when I started blogging, but it’s something I’ve consistently witnessed during the 2 1/2 years I’ve been on WordPress.
While there are some bloggers who aren’t community-minded, the vast majority of the bloggers I’ve interacted with have really lived up to the Booker T. Washington quote mentioned earlier. The kindness in this community is not a one-way street.
Sometimes the mind can lie and say that we’re not deserving of kindness. That lie can get particularly. loud when mental illness steps up to bat. But kindness is like food for the soul, and it’s self-regenerating; the more kindness that you give to yourself and others, the more you will have available to you.
So look around you. Notice the kindness that’s already there, and deliberately choose to add to it.
Be Kind is available on Amazon (affiliate link).
I received a reviewer copy of this book from NetGalley.
You can find my other reviews on the MH@H book review index or on Goodreads.