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kindess

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?”

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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.)

Daily Manifestation Challenge

Mean People Suck. The DMC. Daily Manifestation Challenge.

December 19, 2011

Today’s DMC, or Daily Manifestation Challenge is about Kindness.

I have had so much kindness displayed to me in my life.

For this I am eternally grateful.

While I was still waitressing at the Newsroom, 5 years ago, my regulars, The Simons, came in for lunch as usual. I was upset and they noticed. My nephew Blaise had just been born in Atlanta and there were major complications. He was in Intensive Care (NICU) and was having his brain scanned. I was crying as I was taking their order for Arnold Palmers. I had no money to fly there, I was scared. I got their iced tea-lemonades and came back.

They told me they were sending me to Atlanta.

They did.

I will never forget that act of kindness.

Now that is a big example, but there are lots of small ones. Every time I go in my bank, the tellers all know my name and say hello. It’s like Cheers. Small acts of kindness like this are not small to me at all.

They keep me going.

So back to mean people. Yea, they pretty much suck. And kind people pretty much rule.

And, yes I know that their lack of kindness is coming from a deep well of unhappiness or insecurity or tiredness or because someone else was just lousy to them. So here is my advice to them: take a deep breath in, bite the inside of your cheek if you have to, but, under no circumstances, should you do or say something to tear someone down or to try and make them feel less than.

So what I decided is that to make up for every person who is less than kind I will be extra kind. Take today’s DMC with me! It feels good. Be kind for no reason. Be kind to a homeless person. Be kind to the person in the car next to you. Be kind with your thoughts. Be kind to yourself.

That, Dear Manifesters, is the essence of yoga to me. 

II.33 Vitarkabadhane Pratipaksabhavanam

“In the face of negativity, one should cultivate the opposite view.”


So yea, mean people may suck a little tiny bit.
There may be a moment when you feel like they have sucked the life out of you but you will get back up, with a smile and you will go do something nice for someone or yourself. You will forget about anything else. Your kindness, whether it was given or received, will overpower anything perceived as meanness.
The bottom line really is this anyway isn’t it? If we are to take nothing personally then even “meanness” should go unnoticed.
Yea, I am working on it too.
So today let’s kill ’em with kindness.
Oh, and PS, If you are of the “meanies”, here’s a little secret: It is way easier to be kind than mean. And it makes you look cuter!
Keep Kindly Manifesting your life,
one laugh and one SMILE at a time
MUST WATCH THIS KINDnESS ViDEO & SHARE
[youtube=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qc8ZbVcdHpg&feature=youtu.be]