Spreading Seeds Along Your Journey

There are so many moments that I sit and contemplate this crazy gift we call life. I often drift in thought pondering on decisions I've made in the past and where the path I chose has taken me until that very moment. Deep, I know. Okay, maybe not REALLY deep but deep enough that it causes me to daydream and start to stare at a random paint spot on the wall. Talk about profound. That little paint tends to slowly transform into familiar shapes like puffy clouds do on a sunny day or how Elvis' face magically appears in a piece of toast. It's moments in deep thought when staring at a wall brings us to realize how different our outcomes could be if we put forth a little more effort in one simple gesture. Kindness.

Kindness is such a complex word. It doesn't seem like it is superficially when you look at it but it very much is. We learn about kindness as a child but we really don't understand it's complexity until we are adults.

"Give him one of your Doritos Christina, not the Nacho Cheese ones that smell like dirty gym socks, the real deal Cool Ranch kind."

Moments like my inner child voice from the 90's telling me to share my Doritos defined a much more simpler time. This time was when true grace was identified on a playground with a tiny hand exchange of snacks. Time to fast forward. It's 2019 and kindness gets thrown out the window on a daily basis. You're an adult, who has time to be nice? Honestly, kindness is usually the first thing to "go" in our very busy lives. Kindness goes and so does patience (they are like fraternal twins- they look a lot alike). You curse out the school bus driver for going 10 MPH under the speed limit which ultimately makes you very late to work. Your spouse bought groceries and remembered to buy your favorite snack but you complained because he or she forgot to get laundry detergent. You snap at a coworker because he or she asked a question that was answered on a conference call five minutes prior. Your kids are running around the house and you let a choice word slip out and say something you don't mean. All of these examples, are just a glimpse at times when we forget how important it is to plant little seeds of kindness in small ways to ultimately form the garden of beauty we will enjoy and cherish after they grow. Let me explain.

In small ways, we can change the trail of our journey and the view from the top peak. That view can be magnificent and full of an array of flowers or dim and lacking luster. Most of the time, when we think back on our life thus far we typically focus on the outcome of our major choices like not passing a class in college, applying for a credit card we didn't need or a failed marriage. We also focus on negativity, how others wronged us or emotional trauma and how it changed us. We define ourselves in these moments. That's where it's important to redirect thought and change the way life is viewed as a whole (your trail you've hiked so far). Were some choices ones that today we may view differently or react to in a different way? Yes. Do we make mistakes in life? Yes. What we should focus more on are the ways we cultivated and planted seeds to feel good about the way we treated other people. In retrospect, those little moments actually transform us to move in certain directions or change paths on our journey and can affect the journey of others. Kindness is not only treating others positively, it's the effect it has on us when received as well. It's a very complex word. Kindness can be defined as taking small moments stepping aside while on our journey, forgetting about our own end result and simply acting from one's heart. No strings attached. Little seeds can be planted in so many ways and they grow into beautiful flowers that in return pollinate other flowers and create more and more seeds. It's contagious and so important. You can never know what someone else is enduring, nor do they fully understand what you're going through. All we do truly know is that our actions, no matter how small, can help change a journey in so many ways. Simply helping someone in need, can cause a person to change his or her thinking in that moment to make a positive choice or act kindly to someone else who may need it more. We don't realize how impactful a small act of kindness is, or planting a seed can be. We as humans need these seeds and all too often we let them dry up or rot not giving them the care they need to get them into the soil.

I will leave you with this quote below as I feel I could ramble on forever on the positive outcomes of displaying kindness towards others. Just do it. If you're having a bad day, take a moment and just be nice to someone. I promise in that moment you may still be having a bad day, but you will feel so much better about yourself afterwards and so will someone else. Showing kindness helps you think clearly, and helps someone else who may be going through a difficult time. All in all, kindness wins over and over. I know when I get to the top of my mountain and look back down upon my trails I hiked and my overall journey, I want to see a rainbow of flowers glistening in the sun and dancing in the rain. Anything less, would be a sheer and utter disappointment and a life not lived with purpose.

"Although the life of a person is in a land full of thorns and weeds, there is always a space in which the good seed can grow." -Pope Francis