“There are opportunities every day to be kind.” - Barb Walters
Look for the Helpers
We're more than halfway through 2020, and it’s been a rough year for just about everyone. Even if things are going well in one area of someone’s life, inevitably there’s a dumpster fire in another section. Maybe it’s your child’s education, or a natural disaster, or the explosion of long-standing tension, or working remotely, or the upcoming presidential election.
We don’t want to minimize anyone’s struggles, but we also agree with the sentiment that you’re more likely to find something if you’re looking for it. That which we focus on tends to be what we see. So, this month, we’ve been trying to focus more on kindness than struggle. When all we see is anger and fear, whether justified and irrational, it’s easy to believe that the proper response is more anger and fear. So, while we check the news, we here at Joy Editing are turning our attention to how we can help. Have you tried recently to spread kindness? If you gave yourself the goal of being kind to one person every day, do you think you could do it? How do you think looking for opportunities to be kind would change your perspective? What does “being kind” look like to you?
To us, it looks like buying an extra bag of oranges at the grocery store to leave in the neighborhood Blessing Box. It looks like choosing not to say that mean thing to our partner. It looks like giving our child an extra hug, or sending a check-in text to a friend, or returning someone else’s grocery cart. Being kind to one person a day can even look like pointing out what we like in the mirror. (Sometimes no one will need your kindness more than you do.)
Paying It Forward
As part of our goal to help people, we’re gearing up to launch a contest in October that’s all about helping others. We’ll be posting the official details on social media on October 1st, but we want to give you the first hints now!
We have a couple of baskets full of goodies for both authors and readers that we’ll be giving away at the end of October. The only way to win will be to make a donation to the charity of your choice. There are no limits on how many donations you can make, and with a few exceptions, you can donate to any charity you want. We may not make a huge difference for any one group, but we believe that every drop of kindness counts.
So, please keep an eye on our feeds on FB and IG, donate in October, and spread kindness every day. Until next month, remember to be kind to yourselves and each other.