Learning How To Be All Over Again
by Tracey Rich

Everyday there are opportunities and reminders to be kind. Sometimes the reminder arrives after the opportunity has been missed. As humans we learn from mistakes. On any given day, there are numerous opportunities to be kind, and to learn from our mistakes.

We continue to experience large scale shifts, extremes, and in many ways, unprecedented times in our lifetime. Once again, these are opportunities to learn from the errors we as humans so often repeat. The simplicity of civility may be the brightest bridge to learning how to be all over again.

If we could start with greater civility, perhaps the shift to attuning ourselves more readily to kindness would not be so far off. Kindness is an empathetic response. When fear dominates we are less open to trust and kindness. When fear dominates, we contract, run to our corners and cling to the positions and beliefs that reinforce fear. When fear dominates, we are in the part of the brain that triggers fight or flight which leaves us less likely to use reason or discernment, or to respond with empathy. In empathy, we recognize ourselves in others.

It is in empathy that hope remains.

Keep yourself open for opportunities to be kind.