Planting Gentle Words

Happy Thanksgiving to all who reside in the United States. Blessings of Kindness and Prosperity to everyone all over the world.

Plant Gentle Words...Peace will bloom. Peace begins in one heart. These are the slogans for my inspirations at Kathy's Kindness Shop. Twenty five percent of all proceeds go to charities to fight hunger. You may visit at www.cafepress.com/kathymik.

Examine your thinking. Gentle thoughts become gentle words and become gentle action. Watch peace begin to bloom. Let us plant gentle words and reach out our hearts in kindness. Judgment has no place in hearts filled with love. Be kind to all for you never know when you may be entertaining an angel.

Judgment and chaos are rooted in fear. As light dispels darkness, love dispels fear. Love prevails all. There is no fear in love. Let us love, hope and serve. God's peace begins in one willing heart. God's peace to all this day and forever.

KM

A Remedy of Gratitude

This morning I woke up to slippery roads and snow. I got all upset because since I am not the expert in driving in snow I prefer not to drive in snow. I was quite angry because the snow had once again upset my plans. Since we have moved to Maine in 2003, I have become to h.a.t. e. winter and any form of precipitation associated with winter. All I wanted to do was go home to Massachusetts where life was so much easier and less stress. I began to cry.

Let me explain crying is a normal part of my week. I am going through menopause and I usually have a couple of crying episodes per week. Usually they only last a couple of minutes before my mood changes to a happier one. This morning I felt like crying a little bit longer as I felt the sting of homesickness. I decided it was time to write in my gratitude journal. Boy was it hard to find gratitude through my stubborness. Finally the gratitude broke through.

What a relief! The gratitude changed my mood and lifted the heavy weight off my shoulders. Even the snow looked a little bit pretty. Gratitude lifted my spirit and dried my tears. What a wonderful remedy!

KM

Handing Over the Reigns

So many times in life it feels like we are wandering around the woods, lost, not knowing which direction to go. A friend of mine once told me to picture myself trying to drive a pony cart in the middle of the woods. I become confused and do not know which way to go. She said then to imagine myself giving the reigns over to God and let Him lead the way. In other words Be Still, Let Go and Let God lead the way.

It is difficult for me to be still sometimes. I have the personality of a caregiver that always needs to fix things and make things right. It is not always my job to make things right in fact many times I am in God's way and interrupting the natural flow of good things. I am learning though when I give the reigns over to God things naturally work out just fine. They don't always work out the way I want but they work out for the best.

For today, Lord I give you the reigns! Help me to Be Still and Know that You are God and You are Love. Everything will work out fine. All is well and all will be well.

KM

Hands of Hope

Many times during my life I found myself on the bottom of a seesaw, burdened with worries and fear and my goals dangling in the air. The more I held onto fear and doubt the heavier the weight became making my goals impossible to reach.

One day I was washing my hands and I remembered that God held me in the palm of His hand. I decided I had to make a choice to be happy and finally let go of burdensome worries. I asked God to give me His love and strength. I decided that I could hold onto God’s love and strength with my hands. Before I could let go of fear and doubt I needed to let go of negative thinking in order to balance my life. I needed to trust in God and let Him guide me thought by thought and step by step. I began to design a new plan for my life with God’s help.
I begin each morning spending some time with God. My right hand is my grateful hand. Each day I write five things down that I can thank God for and focus on those things throughout the day. My left hand is my working hand. Each day I write two things down that I need to do for myself such as eating healthy and saying positive affirmations like I have great value in God’s eyes. I then write down two things I need to do for my family such as greeting my daughter at the door when she comes home from school with a warm hug and home baked cookies, or making my husband’s favorite dessert. I then write down one thing I can do for someone else such as calling a relative that may be lonely or sending a card to someone that may be sick. By using my right hand to be grateful and my left hand to take positive action, my hands no longer hide my face from the world in fear. Some days I still find myself at the bottom of the seesaw. Those days I need to live moment by moment breaking down each task gently. Those days are the days I need to wear the brightest smile, knowing God is with me and I have great value in His eyes. God’s hope guides my steps in balance and helps me reach out to others. His love and strength helps me to reach my own personal goals of growth and to live each day with my own hands of hope.

KM

Beauty Within

The first step in being able to bless others is to recognize our own beauty within ourselves. If we do not see ourselves as the beautiful beings that God created how can we see others as beautiful? We need to turn inward and understand that we are deeply loved by God. We may have had someone hurt us or tell us otherwise but God tells us in the bible that He holds us in the palm of His hand. His angels surround us. The is not a religous sermon but we must all begin to love ourselves. Guilt is a needless loss of energy. We should let go of guilt and stop trying to be perfect. We are already designed perfect. All we need to do is open our hearts and let God's love in. Everything we need to know is in God's love. If we put our focus on God's love we will naturally become the full person God intended us to be. We do not need to focus on our limitations or weaknesses. If we focus on our strengths our weaknesses will naturally begin to change into strengths. For today let us each be gentle on ourselves. Let us be kind to ourselves. Let us rest and let God's joy and beauty fill us with peace.

KM

A Kindness Garden

I have always loved the smell of fresh flowers growing in the spring. One of my favorite flowers is the sunflower. I love the way it brightens my day and lightens my soul. What if we could make our thoughts a garden? What would be the richest soil?

I would plant my thoughts in the rich soil of hope. Everytime weeds of fear or negativity would spring up I would spray them with droplets of love. My seeds of service would be nourished by tolerance and non judgement to others. Instead of pointing my finger I would reach out my hand and plant another seed of kindness. Soon buds of peace would begin to peak through the soil. The warmth of the sun would bathe the buds of peace in divine purity. Bouquets of unity would be made by the power of one hand reaching out to another. Soon the garden of kindness would be in full bloom of peace and ready to plant another garden in another field of hope.

Thoughts become things. Little acts of kindness become great acts of love. Mother Theresa once had a business card that read the fruit of hope is faith, the fruit of faith is love, the fruit of love is service and the fruit of service is peace. Let us all plant a seed of kindness in the soil of hope. Let us all reach out our hands and open our hearts to others. Unity begins in one hand. Peace begins in one heart.
KM

Service from the Heart

Recently I watched a beautiful video presentation about great service. The presentation was about how each one of us can make a difference in our every day routines. The character in the video was a gentleman that had down syndrone, was a bagger at a grocery store and helped transform the entire store by placing his special touch in each customers bag. He came up with an idea after a conference about great customer service. He began collecting thoughts for the day and placing them in the customer's bags. The video emphasized on how great service comes from the heart. You may view the video at www.simpletruths.com. Look for the grocery bag!

Each one of us can make a difference. We all have talents, gifts or something special and unique we can share with someone. What can you do today?
KM

Blessings of Kindness

Back in 2005 right after the devastating Hurricane Katrina hit the Gulf coast of the United States, I started a newsletter to uplift people and give them hope. I named it Warm Hugs and Cozy Slippers because when I get home from work the first thing I want to do is hug my family and little dog and next put on my slippers. The warm hugs and cozy slippers fill me with comfort and gratitude. I wanted to capture those warm feelings and share them with others.

There has been a lot said about energy and levels of vibration. I am not a master mind or energy worker. What I am is an ordinary middle age woman with ordinary feelings and emotions. What I have found is that kindness raises my energy level and gives me overall feelings of well being and joy. Medical research has shown that feelings of joy and well being can have significant results in healing the body from sickness. Overall feelings of joy and well being actually help to boost the immune system. Kindness to others always finds its way back to you, usually in double portion.

Recently, I have read a lot on blessing others. I do not mean in a religous sense although I certainly pray for others on a daily basis. I mean blessing people with kindness. Mother Theresa used to say to do little things with great love. She also said to start within your own household and then go to your neighbors and out into the community. A smile is said to bless people, significantly. A positive attitude also has great power in success.

What if instead of getting angry at others we blessed them with a little kindness. What if we could think of one word that could bring us into a place of blessing such as love? Every time someone got on your nerves such as cutting you off while driving, you instead of beeping your horn, said one word, love. By saying this word, love it would remind you that by blessing the person with kindness and well being you could actually make a difference in making the world better. What if you were to pick one person and bless them in one way for 30 days? I challenge you to pick one person and bless them with little acts of kindness for 30 days. I invite you to write down any results and share them with me. I also invite you to visit an awesome website on blessing people the address is www.bettertobless.com. For now, may your day be filled with blessings of joy and well being. May kindness rule in your heart.
KM