The Kindness Experiment

I shared this experience with my husband recently and he said, "Oh gosh, you aren't going to blog that are you?"  He thought my story was cheesy.  But not only that, I don't like to talk about good deeds.  I have stopped following people on facebook or blogs because they are overly braggy about their good deeds.  In my book, that kind of detracts from the acts of service if you have to toot your own horn.  Ultimately the only person who matters in knowing how you treat others is our Savior. Hebrews 6:10 "For God is not unrighteous to forget your work and labor of love, which ye have shewed toward his name, in that ye have ministered to the saints, and do minister."

I recently read on Positively Alene that she wants to do a Friday link up of kindness acts to inspire each other.  I think the difference between inspiring and bragging is all in the wording.  So in order to participate in her link up, I am going to concentrate on my wording here as to be inspiring not braggy.  Getcha?  Gotcha?  Good!  

When I was a little girl, I learned this catchy little song at church.  It went something like this...

♫♫I want to be kind to everyone, for that is right you see...

So I say to myself, remember this, kindness begins with me♫♫

I loved that song and would sing it to myself sometimes to remind myself to be kind and helpful to others.  

Source

I was at the grocery store recently, and let me preface that I HATE the grocery store.  People are in a hurry are generally rude, and personally I can't get out of there fast enough. There was this woman and her friend/sister I'm not sure, but as I passed them down the aisle of the store their carts were doubled up taking up so much of the aisle that every time they came toward me, I would have to squish myself up against the canned goods or whatever.  It was one of my invisible moments, I assure you.   I found myself feeling ugly inside.  My rude thoughts consumed me.  I was frustrated, that they were in their own world and did not see me!  As I was approaching the last aisle of the store, I turned the corner and there they were again. It was then that the words to this childhood song came back to me, ♫Kindness begins with me♫ This time I decided to change my attitude.  I looked at woman who was smack dab in the middle of the aisle right in the eye and smiled real big at her.  I tried to look at her with love. And do you know what happened?  She smiled back and moved out of the way!  

This isnt' groundbreaking or earth shattering but it's implications and lesson in my life can be life changing.  It's that even the smallest acts of kindness can reap huge results.  In my case, a small smile from me, reaped the result of being seen....of the woman in turn moving out of my way instead of the other way around.  This was my experiment in kindness.  

How have you seen kindness work in your life?