Kindness- one of my favorite words.

Kindness means being totally accepting of who comes to Thanksgiving. Fill the house with people that may not have another place to go. Accept the people your children choose to be in their lives. Love them like they are your own children. Love other people’s children like they are your own. We all know how it feels to not feel comfortable in our own family sometimes or not feel seen or not feel wanted. Let’s do our best to make everyone feel important and welcome.

Kindness means that we can give ourselves a second (or fiftieth) chance to reinvent ourselves or to follow a new path. Next year, I want to go head over heels into making this little homestead of ours a green living home and garden. To show people that you can create an entire ecosystem within your own yard. Kindness means that I can choose to do what I love and not cause harm to the environment, and I can share that wisdom with others because little things that we do add up.

Kindness is the way to make powerful change in the world. Don’t we have enough cruelty out there without causing more pain and suffering? Adopting a plant based diet allows you to be the healthiest you have ever been and relieve the misery that resonates throughout the world. It is easier than you think. We are hosting a vegan Thanksgiving. We have seventeen people coming to our little 1910 coal miner’s cottage to share space and a meal.

Kindness means that whoever we meet, we recognize the human journey as being very similar and we know that everyone is mourning, rejoicing, searching, and needing love all the time. And just a smile can change someone’s day. To put away our own frustrations and judgments to show someone love and acknowledgment is one of the most powerful ways to show kindness.

As we enter the time of year in every culture and religion of hope and new beginnings, we keep our eyes and hearts on gratitude and the joy of walking this earth. And show kindness to all creatures big and small.

What does kindness mean to you?