Kindness Challenge Conversions
ServiceSpace
--Jyoti
2 minute read
Sep 16, 2014

 

Last year at this time, I signed up for the 21 day kindness challenge on Kindspring.org. I received daily email reminders to practice kindness and notice it, sometimes prompted by a reflective question. My teenage son and I end our day with quick prayers together as part of saying goodnight. I would occasionally have one last conversation of the day with him as part of this nightly ritual, by asking him the kindness challenge reflection question. He often had a prompt response or would ask a question back.

This year, he is applying to colleges. His school counselor needed a parent statement so she could write his letter of recommendation. As I wrote this parent statement, it was about the surprising answer he had given me one of these questions from last year as it was more telling of him as a person than anything else I could come up with. I am so grateful that the kindness challenge allowed me to know my son better and have conversations I would ordinarily not have had with him. I knew being kind was good, I knew a virtual community of like-minded folks was a way to enrich my practice, but this surprise benefit of a better bonding with my teenager was a complete surprise, and that it would linger long enough to be the best basis for writing about him as a parent, is just further proof that the changes brought about by kindness are enduring.

I am now hosting a 21-day kindness challenge to spread the ripples across time and space, and am grateful to everyone who makes this possible.

 

Posted by Jyoti on Sep 16, 2014


2 Past Reflections