“If you can’t recognize meanness, your bar for kindness will be far too low.” ~ Lisa Merlo-Booth
If someone buys you flowers on Friday, calls you stupid on Monday, and barely speaks to you when you’re down on Thursday—shred the flowers. Kindness is a way of being, not an occasional act. Far too many people receive crumbs from their partners and try to make a birthday cake out of them. You can’t make a cake out of crumbs—they’re ONLY crumbs. This fact is true in friendships, dating, and family relationships. Crumbs are crumbs no matter who’s giving them.
You deserve kindness from others, and others deserve kindness from you. If those in your inner circle are not treating you kindly, train them better, or remember you can have them lose their spot.
Challenge: Don’t mix a crumb with kindness. Kindness is a way of being not an occasional one-off act. Recognize unkind and mean actions when they come your way and see them for what they are. Don’t dress them up, excuse them, or rationalize them. Note them, tell yourself that they were mean, and remind yourself that there’s no place in your life for meanness.
