Let’s Be Kind
*Please enjoy this magical, golden piece from our guest blogger, Candie Watkins*
I don’t know about you, but I feel that the world is upside down, inside out and backward. We slowed down in 2020 because of the Pandemic, for many this was a difficult time, loss of jobs, lots of uncertainty and as we know loss of life. And now, in 2021, it seems the news has only shown us the bad, the ugly in people, and how the future doesn’t look bright. Dismal images have been dancing in my head.
Then December 1st came, and I was reminded of the magic of Christmas! Elf on a shelf, letters to Santa, and the enchantment that happens around this time of year.
I live with a five-year-old. She is bright, and full of energy, and has an imagination that I envy. She sees the world as good, and everyone in it as magic. Her dad is her hero, her mom is her heart, and every character in her life is good. Even the little boy who pulls her pigtails in school has some good in him, although it may take a little effort to find.
Through this child’s eyes, I see the good. I want to be good for her. I want to create magic around her. I want to make the world a better place for her to live in. She fills me with joy and shows me that there is beauty everywhere. I believe all children have this magical ability to make everything amazing, just by being their imaginative, enchanting, love and light selves.
And although we were all like this to begin with, we get older, and a bit wiser and we grow up. AND we can do better.
Over the past 24hrs I have searched out the good through news sites, social media, and talking to friends. It’s out there!
There was a little boy who was trick or treating this past Halloween. He came to a house that was out of candy. He filled the bowl from his own bag. Kindness!
There is a group of girls who drive around their town and yell compliments to strangers, “Your hair looks nice today”, “I love that top you’re wearing”, “You have an amazing smile”. The reaction from these strangers fills my heart with joy. Kindness!
A woman on a flight, sitting in an exit row, noticed the seven-foot-tall young man in front of her. She immediately tapped him on the shoulder and offered to change seats with him so he could be more comfortable. Her only request, “pay it forward someday”. Kindness!
You can find stories of kindness everywhere. People paying it forward. Neighbors helping neighbors, strangers stepping out to help strangers. I believe this is the child within us, coming out every now and again to remind us to be kind. To look for the magic in the world and to create magic.
Who said I had to stop seeing the world through love and light? Just because I’m surrounded by ugly stories through pretty much every media outlet, doesn’t mean I have to allow it to affect me. I can take the facts, I can process them, and I can keep my state intact. I can search for the good. There is good all around us, acts of kindness, a smile, a hug (although not as many as we may want nowadays).
So, this coming Holiday Season, I plan to take a step back, search for the child within, and help to spread magic and fill the world with kindness, love, and light. I want this to become my norm and know that spreading kindness is part of who I am. I want to be better, do better and leave the negativity behind.
If we can all, as the Athena Sisterhood, just take a step back and not allow the outside negativity to reach deep within us, we can create magic around the world. Maybe, just maybe, by being our SELVES we are being Santa’s ELVES, and spreading child-like magic in the world through kindness, love, and light.
Bringing visions of sugarplums dancing in my head instead.
Happy Holiday Season from my heart to yours.
~ Candie Watkins