I'm still here!

I really haven't given up on this experiment! I think that spending a month on Kindness was about as effective as the month of Patience, but for different reasons.

See, Patience is something I need to work on and was thoroughly overwhelmed by concentrating on it so much. On the other hand, I don't think that I am in unkind person.

As far as the sub-points; I could be a little friendlier, especially to random strangers. What's interesting is that I did actually try that during the August Kindness month. And what I found is that, even in the heart of Minnesota Nice territory, people look at you weird when you try to be Friendly. This includes restaurant hostesses, Target cashiers, and the nurse at the doctor's office. And "weird looks" can range from surprise to annoyance to indulgence.

Approachable is a difficult thing. I was mostly thinking about work when I added this sub-point. I'm the supervisor of several staff, and I want to be Kind enough that they feel that they can approach me with different issues that they're dealing with. I think that's happening as much as it can. I have taken time to get to know my two lead staff, and I think that has helped with the Kindness thing, although I didn't do it as part of this exercise.

I'm not entirely sure what to say about being Accepting. Maybe this is part of what makes me think I'm already a pretty kind person. Since leaving church (see my other blog under my profile), I've thought a lot about judgment and being Judgmental. And to me, Acceptance is the opposite of Judgment. Maybe there's another opposite that I should contemplate at some point, but I think I have this one covered. But then, maybe I'm only comparing myself to my hubby, who makes judgmental comments all the time, especially in the car. To be fair, he usually does it just to be funny. But I find myself defending all the poor suckers he picks on. Maybe that's not exactly Accepting...

Anyway, that's what I have to say on the month of Kindness.


TEACHABLE

Wow. This one's hard. Again, I may have been thinking a little about work. I think I was also thinking about being an example of this for my daughter, since Teachable children are usually easier to deal with.

I'm just not sure what to say about it. Maybe I'll come up with something in the next 9 days. I'll let you know.