Since then, I have added a new page to my blog which I am pretty excited about.
If you look to the right of the "HOME" button, you will see the "A Kind Hart in America" button!
On this new page, it has a little bit of information about the journey that started it all. The journey in which my family and I traveled 20 states in 18 days and did over 1,500 acts of kindness.
The states are all listed, along with al of the acts of kindness. PLUS there are tons of gorgeous photos from our journey!
So take a moment, check it out and enjoy.
That trip was my baby, and it has inspired many upcoming projects that I am working on....
For instance, #candles4kindness, which will happen this year on my birthday, April 22nd.
The weekend before my birthday, I will be out in the Orlando area handing out candles and asking everyone to light those candles starting at 5:00pm April 22nd. While lighting those candles, I will ask that they either saying a prayer, or having a moment of silence for an increase of kindness and love in the world.
I will also be asking everyone to post photos/videos of their candles on Facebook with the hashtag #candles4kindness.
The idea being that we light up Facebook with kindness and make the world a brighter place.
Now, back to the book I have been reading and discussing: "The Power of Kindness."
If you are just now joining my blog, the book is written by Piero Ferrucci, and is simply amazing.
Each blog I have been trying to summarize the standpoints of kindness that Ferrucci has written about; This week is "the sense of belonging."
I will be 100% honest with you, and myself.
I was an odd child.
I always stood out. I always was a little bit different. And no matter how hard I tried, I just was not one of the "cool kids."
I would watch Saved By The Bell Episodes and wonder how on earth was Screech best friends with the super popular Zack Morris, because that's just not how things worked in the real world.
For the majority of my Jr. High/High School experience, I went to a super small private school.
In this school there were pretty much two groups of kids:
1. The large majority of popular kids
2. The handful of outsiders
I was the quiet girl who daydreamed her way through pretty much every class. I had God awful haircuts, braces, horrible acne, and shoes that obviously came from Payless Shoe Stores...so you can only guess which category I belonged in.
I could go on and on about the many times I cried over things kids said to me, or about me--or how I felt left out a large majority of the time-- but I want to keep this positive.
As kids, and teenagers, we are so obsessed with the idea of belonging, and being part of the popular crowd--and it drives us to do some pretty crazy things.
Because I can't resist a Mean Girls clip, I am sharing this clip where Cady is "becoming a plastic" and she states that even though she hates Regina, she couldn't help but wanting to Regina to like her.
Sadly enough, this is how a lot of our youth feel...
There are so many great movements out there that are teaching kids to stop bullying, and it is a platform that I strongly support.
But we also need to teach our kids that to "belong" doesn't necessarily mean that you have to be popular, or one of the "cool kids."
If I could talk to a much younger, and naive version of myself, I would point out all of the people who loved and supported me during my teenage years and beyond. These people accepted me no matter how goofy looking, awkward, or poorly dressed I was. These were the people that should have mattered to me. And because I am pretty lucky, a lot of these people are still in my life.
When you find those sorts of people, you find a sense of belonging that matters, and that's when you should say, "thank you."
And of course Piero Ferrucci has some pretty great things to say about a sense of belonging too!
"..our sense of belonging can be rigid and rusty-- and can be restricted to a tight circle. Or it can be free, flexible, and active even in the toughest situations, making life easier and more pleasing. It seems evident to me that these attitudes have to do with kindness. If I see you as different and I view you with suspicion, or at the best with cold neutrality, is unlikely that I will fell kindly disposed toward you. If instead I look to you knowing we both belong to the human race, both have a similar nature, different experiences but the same roots and a common destiny, then it is probable I will feel openness, solidarity, empathy toward you. In other words, kindness."
Thanks so much for reading!
Be Kind,
Kelly Airhart
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