Daily Manifestation Challenge

WWKD? The DMC is Back!

March 18, 2012

Daily Manifestation Challenge: WWKD?

Not to be confused with WWJD: What Would Jesus Do? 

(Although I recently was told that my “slightly Jewish, yogic mini sermons in yoga church were quite enjoyable.”)

WWKD: What Would Kindness Do?

That’s right, Kindness.

(Although apparently Jesus was very kind, so, I suppose interchangeable. I will not go into religious debate here but suffice to say, this Jew has faith in all. And above all, kindness.)

The  theme of classes this week is Kindness. In fact, this week is dubbed: ‘Project Kindness’. 

The mantra this week, when the hands come to prayer is: I am Kind.

And in parentheses (especially to myself.)

And if you have seen the movie The Help you will be reminded of this scene indeed:

[youtube=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UZimx1wHYcs]

(“I is Kind. I is Smart. I is Important.” Yup.)

During Project Kindness Week I have asked my tribe these questions:

1) What can you do to be kinder ‘out there’?

2) What can you do to be kinder in here, as in, to yourself?

Turns out, when I asked them, it was tougher to be kind to themselves.

Oye.

I get it.

I still struggle with it at times. It’s like an old demon I have to keep at bay. I keep a bat by my bed. (Well, really my husband keeps a golf club by his side but I took poetic license.)

“You’ve gained weight, Jen.” 

“You’re lazy Jen.”

Those are just two examples of the old broken tapes that tempt to play in my mind even though I have upgraded to an mp3 player and they are like old cassettes or 8 tracks. They are old and unkind words that I know well and used to feel as comfortable as breath on glass.

Not so much anymore, but I won’t lie to you. Not here. They hover at the edges of my kind self and threaten to pounce when I am tired or overworked or my friend has just died.

OMG! That describes my last week. 

Well, look at that.

So I decided to take the bull by the horns and show him what kindness looks like. Eye to eye. I decided to man-up.

Or woman.

Whatever.

Kindness is not very discerning.

It goes where needed and wanted.

So I asked my students, and now you, my readers: What Would Kindness Do?

Before every breath you take. Before every pose you attempt in class. Before you speak.  Before you cut someone off in traffic. Before you post on Facebook. Before you do or be.

Pause and ask yourself this: WWKD?

I would love to hear below what you can do to be a kinder person? To yourself? In the world? To a stranger?

I dared my students to buy a coffee for the person in line behind them at the coffee shop. Will you take that dare?

I have never done this but I think it would make you feel good and the person you are buying it for. And, the barista and the cashier and the person at the end of the line and the wife of the guy you bought the latte for because when he tells her the story she will be reminded that “yes, yes there are kind people still out there” even though she may have just gotten laid off.

You see how it works? Let’s do this.

Let’s create a domino effect.

How can you be better than you were before?

I cannot control if you are kind or not but I will be damned if I am not the kindest person I know. That’s the thing I can control.

I will start by adding my own comment and you can follow suit.

What would kindness do? Kindness would send a gift card to the woman I know through mutual friends whose little boy was killed last week by a car (at age 3) and she was left with 3 other kids, one with special needs. Kindess would send her a gift card for a grocery store.

Kindness would say a silent prayer for the guy I saw standing at the entrance to the freeway with a sign that said “Smile”.

Kindess, as my friend Frank said, would hang out with other kind people.

Kindness would be ok with the fact that I have been in my pajamas most of day doing absolutely nothing.

Kindess would listen more.

Kindess would tell all that I love that I indeed love them.

I love you.

And then there’s always Star Trek……

WWKD

What would Kirk do?

Reference to the infamous Captain James Tiberius Kirk of the starship Enterprise on the television series Star Trek and his creative solutions to seemingly impossible situations, problems, and interpersonal impasses.

WWKD suggests the solution to a problem lies in the question of “what would Captain Kirk do in my situation?”

*****************
Jennifer Pastiloff will be teaching at the Tadasana International Yoga & Music Festival over Earth Day weekend on the beach in Santa Monica, CA, April 20– 22. Click here to check out the festival website and purchase tickets. Enter the code Pastiloff for a $50 discount! (Please note that discount codes expire April 1.)

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No Comments

  • Reply Tina Willoughby March 18, 2012 at 7:34 pm

    What a great reminder to be kind to ourselves. That is my plan for the week! I will tell myself kind words like I would tell my sweet friends. Thanks, Jen! 🙂

    • Reply ManifestYogaJen March 18, 2012 at 7:37 pm

      Tina, although we have never “met” in person you have been kinder to me than I ever could have imagined xx

  • Reply Gail Sidney March 18, 2012 at 8:49 pm

    Dearest Jen,

    YOU is kind. YOU is smart. And YOU is waaaaay important! Though I haven’t seen much of you lately due to injury and surgery, I carry a piece of you with me almost daily. I am sure your are just as smart, kind, beautiful, talented, and loving in your pajamas as you are in class, so please don’t be beating yourself up about wearing them all day, now and then.

    Three things that kindness would do:

    Recently, a very handsome guy — way younger than I, and definitely not flirting — did buy my coffee at Starbucks one morning recently. It lit up my day, and I think I told at least ten friends — and my sister in Louisville — about what a beautiful gesture it was. I was so touched.

    Jon Stewart said to think about, last year during his “Rally for Sanity” in Washington. He said, “When you are in traffic, it’s so simple: You go, then I go. You go, then I go. You go, then I go.” Every day now, I remember that when I am driving. Such a simple thing, but if we all did it every, wouldn’t that be kind!

    And a third thing kindness would do: Send me back to your class … with absolutely no self-judgment, no self-doubt, and no self-conscious embarrassment!

    I love you.

    • Reply ManifestYogaJen March 18, 2012 at 8:52 pm

      Gail,
      I have a grin from ear to damn ear, damm you!
      I miss you, you gorgeous soul.
      You gorgeous woman.
      Get outa your stinking head and back into my room.
      I love you.

  • Reply Gail Sidney March 18, 2012 at 8:52 pm

    Um, I didn’t proofread my reply. NOW i’m embarrassed!! Left out a few words! LOL

  • Reply Ella Chissotti March 18, 2012 at 8:56 pm

    oh Jen, i know the day will come when we meet and it will feel like we have known each other forever-Two weeks ago, i was teaching at one of the studos i teach at and well, i saw the new manager, the 5th in this year, treat a customer so horribly, it left me in a state of shock- we teach yoga, we teach others to step outside the box and then i saw this person just behave so horribly i felt helpless- this incident stayed with me and as it would, that person was a great teacher to me, because later that day Kindness became the topic at hand in my tween class and then continued on into my classes the following day too-In my tween class we always have a sharing circle and so i asked them to share an act of kindness they received or had given, there was no time frame on when this occured as i explained to them, that an act of kindness lives in the heart forever-I in fact after that incident at the yoga studio, started thinking of this couple in Italy that were fruit vendors, where, when i was in my twenties, i used to buy my fruit from- they had just a little kiosk in the middle of the street -they didn’t have much and yet every day as i went to get my produce they would always add in extra herbs or a couple extra artichokes or whatever might be their wish to give to me that day- i did not pay them until i got my pay check, they never doubted that and would just let me keep a tab until i got paid- an honor system if you wish and so here i am 20 years later thinking about how amazing that was and how they were just always so kind to me and how no matter what kind of day i was having , getting my produce and seeing them always made it better-Kindness grows kindness and from Monday to Tuesday i was on this high from all the kindness, until at the end of my day, i got a very abrupt and mean email from the new manager-it left me knocked out, never had i felt treated in this way- So the following day sad and hurt i went to get my legs waxed, the girl i go to, works in a salon- i had just come from teaching and had sweaty yoga hair, when the owner of the studio says to one of the stylist ” do you have time to blow her hair out ? ” ” just give her a free blow out on me “, mind you i never go to that salon for my hair, as i am loyal to my guy for 13 years, but i tell you, i was so moved, i kept telling the stylist that getting my hair blown out, is one of my favorite things in life and how she was just turning my day around in a way she could not know- i left there feeling better if even how to behave in the circumstance of this email was still challenging me-the journey was amazing, to be reminded that no matter what, no one can take your kindness away-I learned so much in the process, as discussed in our tween sharing circle, even when some one is not kind to us, it never feels good to be unkind back, as our True nature is kind and so we must understand the journey of how to be kind to ourselves by some times stepping away from unkind situations not in anger, but in compassion-As we become kinder with ourselves we can become that more for others from a place of abundance rather than imposition-it is so hard when we feel pain or sadness to not take it out on ourselves, i know this all too well, but being kind is what loves the pain out- i love the WWK challenge and embrace it and send you a big embrace as well- un forte abbraccio-e*

  • Reply Ella Chissotti March 18, 2012 at 9:05 pm

    oh also, the wonderful thing about kindness is you don’t need anything, but yourself-love to you-e*

  • Reply jamesvincentknowles March 18, 2012 at 10:20 pm

    It’s not easy to be kind sometimes but it is extraordinarily valuable. Kindness is comprised of the gifts of empathy, compassion & humility … the building blocks of true wealth… (along with gratitude, of course). thank you so much, Jennifer, for ALL you do. So looking forward to meeting you one of these days~! You’ve no idea how much you’ve helped me be much kinder to myself … which does tend to rub off on everyone else in my life~!

  • Reply Kris f March 19, 2012 at 8:25 am

    Kindness to myself and others comes easily for me but being brave….that’s a little harder. We all have our challenges. 🙂 see u Friday @ gentle yoga!!!

  • Reply Stephanie Hildebrand March 19, 2012 at 11:39 am

    Jen… I feel ya.
    Lazy pops into my head a lot… especially because I have a boyfriend with super powers that never seems to run out of energy. And I’m a slow, in-the-moment kind of girl. I think its a great luxury that not many people take advantage of, so many guilt themselves for it. Soooooo….

    Kindness would kick guilt’s butt right out of my head.

    Kindness would kick resentment out of my head too. It wouldn’t allow anyone to live in my head but me. In return, I would live a happier life being true to me and even more kind to others. And every time someone else said or did something that offended me, kindness would say “That’s just them. Shake it off.” Because sometimes, when kindness isn’t prominent in other people’s lives, they try to take it from yours. And kindness would say a little prayer for those people.

    Kindness would welcome compassion. It would say “She’s having a bad day, let her negative energy slide today, because you don’t know everything about her.” And in return, I wouldn’t absorb any of that negative energy.

    Kindness seems to come full circle. You can’t help someone else without helping yourself. Kindness actually makes you better, there’s no denying.

    So I’m going to head over to the coffee shop and buy someone a coffee to brighten up my rainy day 🙂 oops, I mean somebody else’s!

    Mad love for you,
    Steph

  • Reply barbarapotter March 19, 2012 at 12:12 pm

    I know that the smallest act of kindness means so much. Just like me getting a box of gluten free matzoh from Whole Foods in the mail the other day from a friend who knows I can’t get there.:)

  • Reply Lady A March 20, 2012 at 12:17 am

    I thought this was a beautiful post. One of many gifts I’m finding on this website. Thank you for so openly sharing your love. I will put this question (WWKD?) into action. Sat Nam.

  • Reply theawakenedlife March 20, 2012 at 10:55 pm

    Jen, I LOVE this! It reminds me so much of similar campaigns I have started. I love the idea of buying coffee for the person behind you.

    I have a friend right now who is writing positive quotes on dollar bills, so that the positivity is put into circulation. Kindness and positivity must go viral! I’m in your camp.- Jeannie 🙂

    • Reply ManifestYogaJen March 20, 2012 at 10:57 pm

      yay!!!! well, I will buy YOU a coffee when I come see you. hee hee xoxo

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