Then he puts on his sweater when I put coffee in…I mean that’s happiness right there.
Most mornings, I start my day by pulling out a Mr. Roger’s mug that was given to me by a friend. It delights me more than it should that when I pour the coffee in, he changes from a suit and tie into a sweater.
(I also have a Bob Ross mug that gives me happy little clouds when I pour in coffee...)
The mug is covered with famous Mr. Rogers’ sayings:
I like you just the way you are.
Often when you think you’re at the end of something you’re at the beginning of something else.
Or, perhaps my all-time favorite:
You can never go down the drain.
I also have a Mr. Roger's t-shirt that gives three rules of adulthood:
1. Be kind.
2. Be kind.
3. Be kind.
My original slogan for Kim Lloyd Fitness was “Get off your tail” a clever enough take on using a dog for my logo. But while the slogan was witty, it never really rang true for me. Despite years of coaching, I've never been big on giving orders, and certainly never direct orders.
Then one day, as I was leaving my former therapist’s office, I saw a small green sticker on the bumper of her car that read simply, Be Kind.
And immediately, I realized that was the message I wanted to be sharing. That was the message that was in my heart. That if I could be known for one thing and only one thing, it would be doing everything I could to spread a message of kindness.
Sure I want people to get up and start moving so that they can feel better and move better. And I absolutely want people to be strong, both physically and mentally. But I’m not much into telling people what to do. It’s just not my style.
I could not have predicted when I chose that slogan in 2015, just how important that message of kindness would become on a national level.
The need for kindness is more crucial now than ever before.
Every morning, I swipe left on my iPhone and read the day's news. Sure bad things happen. Bad things, unfortunately, will always happen. And it will always be a measure of our humanity as to how we respond to those bad things.
I never imagined in my adult life that I would be witness to the name-calling and hate-filled language from so many leaders in our country. I don't think any of us could imagine. It makes me outrageously angry.
And that's the problem.
It challenges my own ability to be kind and compassionate.
I believe in a world of civil discourse. I believe in a world of opposing views. I believe that there is no one right way to do anything. I believe that we all have a right to practice the faith that is in our heart, and to live the beliefs that match that faith.
But I can't, for the life of me, believe in the vitriol, the name-calling, the bullying, and the hate that I'm seeing every day, in so many ways, from so many people. It breaks my heart to think of the language that my 9 year old niece and 6 year old nephew would hear just by being in the room when the nightly news is on.
From people who are elected leaders.
I chose the tag line of kindness because it aligns with my values (my pillars of happiness, of which I owe you two more next week). The thing is, whether it's naive or not, I believe that kindness is in everyone's values - or at least that kindness is somewhere in their hearts, if maybe a little lost.
I just think, as a country, we've forgotten about kindness. Myself included.
So today I'll try to remind myself to do what I can. No, holding doors for someone else, or buying a stranger's coffee will not immediately turn the rhetoric in this country. But as I dive into a new book called "Atomic Habits" I'm reminded of the definition of atomic:
1. an extremely small amount of a thing; the single irreducible until of a larger system.
2. the source of immense energy or power.
