Did you know it is easier to be mean and rude than it is to be nice and kind? It’s true, because to default to being selfish doesn’t require any real thought. We know what we want and what we like, but to be loving and kind requires us to think beyond ourselves.
Empathy isn’t always easy because sometimes it means putting the feelings of others before our own. That isn’t the same as being a doormat, and it is important that we only do it when it is a conscious choice instead of by default. It isn’t always easy, but it is worth it.
I can’t tell you how many times I don’t want to be kind, and even though I would like to always operate from kindness as my baseline, the facts don’t bear that out in my history. I try to remind myself that we always get to choose, that the way I treat others needs to be something I decide for myself. When someone hurts or angers me and I react to them in anger, I’m letting them make the choice for me and that’s when I give the control over my own behavior to someone else.
Never forget that I love you, and that excludes no one.
Love,
