I had an interesting experience recently. I was in bed asleep and I felt myself waking up. It was as if I was under water with enough breath, calm, slowly coming to the surface. It was just a feeling of waking up with some awareness. It wasn’t even a thought. Before I became aware of the light, or even where I was, a thought crystallised in my mind. It was just one word. It was so slow, I fancy now that I was aware of the thought forming. My first thought as I was waking was the forming of the idea and then the idea itself. It was so simple. The idea was there before I was completely conscious of it. The idea was KINDNESS.
It’s a simple idea right ? Kindness. It was a bit of a surprise, normally I have other thoughts that I am conscious of first thing in the morning. Thoughts like oooh where am I? Or, why is my duvet wrapped around my legs? Or why is the light so bright? or what time is it? Or even where the heck is my phone so I can turn off my alarm? This particular morning there was none of that. Just KINDNESS. It felt warm, satisfying, and gave me a notion of being full, but not stuffed, full but not overflowing, content but not ecstatic. It was just the right amount of good happy contented feeling.
I was surprised. I wondered why this thought had been there that particular day. As I have reflected over the days since, I have noticed that kindness has come into my life lately in many ways. People have listened, reached out, when I shared a challenge. People have helped out. I have also found a new tribe where kindness and care are at the core of our exchanges. So I guess logically it should not be surprising that after a plethora of actions to me, from me, and through me, that were kind, this idea should take form in my mind.
It left me with some questions, what is my focus during my day? Is it more on my challenges or more on the kindness that comes to me, or that I witness? That was really one question. The other question, which I hope you can consider for yourself, is What is your first thought of day, and what if anything could you do to make it one that inspires you and helps you to see your life another way?
thanks for reading
Collie