When I first founded Our Hour, I developed a theme of kindness. I wanted to create a group that operated off of kindness. Since then, kindness has been showing up in my life all around me. This Christmas, I was shopping for a white elephant gift for Our Hour. I stumbled upon a beautiful handcrafted plaque. On it, was the phrase, “If you can be anything, be kind”. I obviously chose that as my white elephant gift. During the white elephant exchange, I was lucky enough to get a book, “The World According to Mister Rogers”. To be honest, I never watched him growing up. I really did not know what he stood for until I opened this book. And now I know that he stands for exactly what Our Hour is all about, kindness.

Kindness…it sound so simple. Because it is! But, it’s not easy. Kindness takes a lot of conscious effort and ongoing self-care. Last night, my mom and I watched Tom Hanks’ awesome role in “A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood”. There’s an amazing scene in the movie where Mr. Rogers explains how to choose kindness over responding with our feelings. “We are trying to give the world positive ways of dealing with their feelings. There are many things you can do. You can play all the lowest keys on a piano at the same time. BONG!”

How will you choose kindness today? Today, I will choose kindness by smiling more. I will spread kindness to others through a smile. Smiling will also help me feel better. Check out at my blog, “Fake it till you make it” to learn more about the benefits of smiling.

And I’ll end on this note. Mr. Rogers taught me the secret to success. Are you ready for it? It is simple, but not easy!

“There are three ways to ultimate success: The first way is to be kind. The second way is to be kind. The third way is to be kind.” ― Fred Rogers.