How to Raise a Good Man – by Colin Falconer

Kindness Blog

One night a father overheard his son pray: “Dear God, Make me the kind of man my Daddy is”. Later that night, the Father prayed: “Dear God, Make me the kind of man my son wants me to be.”
~ Anonymous

I was recently asked to be godfather to a very special young man; the ritual requires godparents to oversee the lad’s ‘spiritual education.’ Not being a great churchgoer, I thought I’d rather leave him my thoughts on what it takes to be a good man, if not necessarily a religious one.

I just saw a movie with the boy’s mom; it was called The Descendants, starring George Clooney. Afterwards she described the main character as a ‘good man.’ It occurred to me what an undervalued concept that has become in today’s society; men today tend to think of themselves as successful or not successful, sexy or not so…

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It used to be rude not to answer the phone. Now you’re rude if you do

It used to be rude not to answer the phone. Now you’re rude if you do

http://gu.com/p/45vtf

The Year of Speaking Kindly – by Mike O’Connor

I am looking forward to this challenge

Kindness Blog

Would you like to increase harmony in your life, cut the potential for conflict and hurting other people? If yes, then this challenge might be for you…

“If you wouldn’t write it and sign it, don’t say it.” ~ Earl Wilson

The first stage in our Year of Speaking Kindly challenge (I’ll be taking part too) will involve us taking a closer look at the way we speak about other people.

Starting today, for the two weeks remaining in this year (2014), I’m encouraging you to pay extra attention to the way you talk, the words you use and your tone of voice when you discuss people who are not present. It really doesn’t matter who you’re with at the time or who you’re speaking of, whether it’s family, friends, colleagues or even strangers, please just notice what is said and the tone of voice used. Look to see…

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Better with Age: 7 things I learned by running a marathon and going back to school at 40

Tri Fatherhood

Dear Izzy, Max, and Kate,

A kind, warmly dressed, middle-aged woman caught me by the shoulders and steadied me. She made eye contact and spoke calmly in a motherly voice, “Congratulations on your finish. Are you okay honey?”

“Thank you,” I said as confidently as I could manage.

“Are you okay?” she repeated.

“I’m a little wobbly. A little…woozy,” I admitted. I stumbled a little and leaned on the woman.

“It’s cold in here. Come with me honey. It’s warmer back here. Let’s get you a blanket. You did great. Congratulations. Drink this,” she said as she handed me bottle of water. She stayed with me for a few minutes asking if I was okay, if I needed anything, and then disappeared back into the arena where more runners were finishing the race.

I sat on the concrete floor in a warm corridor of the Propst Arena, near the medical tent…

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The Kindness in Your Smile – by Kim Scaravelli

Kindness Blog

By its simplest definition, “kindness” is just a synonym for friendliness and I like to believe that I am a friendly and therefore “kind” person (also funny, lovable, uber-smart and modest).  

I have been known to help little old ladies shove grocery carts across parking lots and I almost always offer up a sympathetic smile to parents wrestling with crying toddlers.   But I recently came to notice that my kindness has a certain ‘shallow’ quality to it that is not flattering.  You know what little old ladies and crying toddlers have in common? Cuteness.

Apparently my willingness to offer up kindness may be in direct proportion to the cuteness level of the recipient.

Homeless girl strumming guitar and sitting with cute dog will definitely get a smile and a couple of bucks but [] homeless guy … I’m more inclined to start looking up at the clouds or out into traffic until I am well past him.

If you want to really learn about true self, may…

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In defense of life

Life is good. Yes, I know there are places in this world where peace seems to be an illusion, or starvation is as real as the air we breathe. I know there is a lot of suffering in this world, for myriads of reasons ranging from unemployment to loss of loved ones; the list is endless. In spite of all these, I still insist that life is good.

Why? You may ask. Simply put, life is a miracle that renews itself every day, every hour, every minute, every second. Our being alive means that we are part of that miracle, one miniscule part of this great universe. That alone in itself makes life good, and worth living. Knowing that we were created as part of this universe by the Creator,
that we were made in His image is more than enough reason for life to be good.

Life can be difficult, I know. Life can be painful, it’s true. However, life is good because we are all miracles created by a Creator