Yesterday I hiked my favorite lake trail and ridge at Radnor Lake State Park and it was a perfect day. The trees were blooming, grass was growing and wildflowers were starting to show off their color. The sun was shining so that the lake glistened as if covered with diamonds. Our temperatures hit 80° today and it was glorious!

 

As I came upon one of the many bridges, I saw a beautiful painted rock that said “be kind” with a few hand-painted flowers. This kindness rock was simple and yet so precious. Someone actually took the time to paint that and place it on the bridge propped up by a few other stones so that everybody crossing that bridge would see it and be blessed by its message. 

 

In another area of the park, there’s a big tree where people leave heart-shaped rocks. People are invited to take one if they want. They can keep it forever or bring it back another time. I don’t hike here too often, but the heart rocks always look new to me. It would seem this kindness exchange happens continuously. Of course both discoveries made me pause and contemplate kindness.

 

How hard is it to be kind? How hard is it to go to the dollar store and buy some paints to decorate a rock? Even if we don’t consider ourselves artistic, most of us can probably manage to paint a rock, and/or write a few nice words on it.

 

I also like the idea of doing a good deed and not getting found out. There’s an extra joy that comes from knowing I did something nice and kept it a secret. I have no idea who made that “be kind” rock that I saw on the bridge because they didn’t do it for notoriety. They have no idea how many people have seen it. I don’t know if it was put there yesterday or five months ago. My point is, they did it to put more kindness in the world. That's it.

How often do you do something kind? How aware are you of kindness happening around you? Most of us can easily increase our kindness a little. How about just for this week? Would you be willing to look for one thing you could do slightly out of your normal routine to be kind to another, or to remind others to be kind, as this rock does? 

I’m actually feeling motivated to paint some rocks to deposit on my next venture to the park by our home. Any place where it’s likely to be seen is a good place to leave one. It could be outside of the grocery store, or by the carts. Or we could place one on the curb in our neighborhood. Anyone walking their dog will see it. Whatever kindness we do, let’s consider the extra challenge of doing it anonymously. 

 

Try to notice others showing kindness this week too. That will raise our kindness consciousness as well. Believe it or not, we will experience almost as much joy witnessing someone else’s act of kindness as if we had done it ourselves. It’s amazing how that works. Try it. 

Have fun being kind this week. I would love to hear about what you do. Please share it with all of us in our FB reader’s group. Share pictures too! Not on FB? You can reply to this email and share directly with me.

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