Lately, I can’t help but notice something that has been weighing on me. Everywhere I look, kindness seems to be slipping away.
I see it online. Grown adults arguing in comment sections like teenagers. Name-calling, shaming, and tearing each other down over everything from politics to parenting, to vegetables are bad for you only eat carnivore, to people arguing about seed oils, to even which non-dairy milk is better. I see it in the headlines too. Public figures speaking with so much anger and superiority, even toward people just trying to do their jobs. It makes me pause. What are we doing? How did we get here?
It makes me sad. And more than that, it makes me concerned. Not just for us, but for our kids and teens who are growing up in this energy. Because if this is the tone of the world around them, what are we teaching them? If this is what they see modeled, where does empathy go? What happens to compassion? What happens to simply being a decent human being?
I know we are all overwhelmed. We are juggling so much. We are exhausted and overstimulated. We are moving fast and feeling stretched thin. And when that happens, we tend to become more reactive and less patient. More quick to judge and less likely to pause.
But that doesn’t mean we cannot shift.
This is why I believe so deeply in the practices I teach. Practicing yoga and meditation helps us slow down. It helps us breathe before we speak. It helps us listen instead of react. It creates space between the moment and the response. When we do that work for ourselves, we are also modeling it for our kids. We are showing them another way.
Getting outside helps too. Nature has a way of calming the nervous system without asking anything from us. A walk without our phones, a few minutes in the sunshine, bare feet in the grass. These things reconnect us to what is real.
And then there is gratitude. When we start our day with it or end our day with it, we begin to see life differently. We become more generous with our hearts. More aware of what others might be carrying. More open to choosing kindness, even when it would be easier to snap or shut down.
Kindness is not weakness. Compassion is not something we outgrow. Empathy is not something we only teach little kids and forget about when we become adults.
Kindness is a muscle. The more we use it, the stronger it gets. The more we practice grounding ourselves, breathing, listening, pausing, and softening, the less likely we are to contribute to the noise.
No, we cannot fix the whole world overnight. But we can start in our homes. In our bodies. In our breath. In the way we speak to our kids. In how we show up when no one is watching.
Kindness is contagious. And right now, the world could use a whole lot more of that.
Here are some affirmations for this week:
I choose to slow down, breathe, and lead with kindness.
My energy is grounded in compassion.
I teach by example, with presence and love.
Here are some journal prompts:
Where have I been reactive instead of responsive?
What practices help me return to calm?
How can I model kindness and compassion today, for myself and those around me?
Nikki Lanigan
Nikki Lanigan is a yoga, HIIT, and Barre instructor, she is also a Holistic Health Coach through Institute of Integrative Nutrition. Nikki is trained in Yoga Shred, Yoga Psychology, meditation, chakra balancing, and EFT/Tapping. She has done trainings with Sadie Nardini and Ashley Turner. She got her 200 hour yoga teacher training in 2017 at the Carrie Treister School Of Yoga. Nikki takes a holistic view of health, helping her students and clients reach a place of self-love not just through movement, but with mindset and lifestyle guidance as well. Nikki is also show prep writer for The McVay Media Show Prep and host of the podcast Fit, Fun, and Frazzled. Connect with Nikki on Instagram. www.instagram.com/nikkilanigan.yogaandwellness www.instagram.com/fitfunandfrazzledpodcast
