Blog

Rushing through life, no time to stop, to consider, to notice, swept up in a whirlwind of busyness. Does this feel familiar? It is easy to be so caught up in the busyness of life that we miss out on the opportunities all around us to be kind, to choose […]

#thoughtfulthursday 34: Beware of busyness leading to unkindness

23rd August 2018 tagged care / Choice / community / connection / Hope / Kindness / Life / loneliness / Love / relationship / Sharing / Suffering / Transformation

For my daughter’s 11th birthday she decided to do 11 acts of kindness and invited her friends to join in with her. Instead of gifts she asked her friends to bring food to donate to a local food bank. We were overwhelmed by the generosity. We had suggested perhaps a […]

#thoughtfulthursday 33: Give wishes

16th August 2018

I think of myself as a patient person, but it’s amazing how delays can make me angry and stressed. It could be getting stuck in a little traffic, my toddler taking too long to get her shoes on or having to wait for an appointment. Being patient is obviously good […]

#thoughfulthursday 32: Give away a minute

9th August 2018 tagged community / Kindness / patience / people / time

The ‘Reader’s Digest’ used to have an article called ‘Laughter is the best medicine’ and so many times in my life I have found this to be true, especially at my darkest moments there was a power in laughter to bring healing and hope. At New Year we spent the […]

#thoughtfulthursday 31: Laugh about it!

2nd August 2018

It is very easy to put the people in our lives in boxes. For example, we might only ever speak to a colleague about work, without finding out about the rest of their world. We need to connect with people on a human level, not just a functional one. […]

#thoughtfulthursday 30: Embrace curiosity

26th July 2018 tagged care / connection / friendship / interest / relationship / value

In England, school children break up for the summer holidays at the end of this week. Parents avidly wait for news of who their teacher will be next year and we buy the current teacher a gift to say ‘thank you’. For the most part, I have really appreciated […]

#thoughtfulthursday 29: Thank the unappreciated

19th July 2018 tagged appreciation / connection / encouragement / grateful / Kindness / Thankfulness

One of our children had a bad experience this week – another child at school had been very unkind to them. The teacher dealing with it mentioned to our child that the person who had upset them was going through a difficult time at the moment. The teacher wasn’t excusing […]

#thoughtfulthursday 28: Give people the benefit of the doubt

12th July 2018 tagged care / Choice / connection / Courage / Forgiveness / Freedom / Kindness / relationship / Restoration / Sharing / Transformation

My family has a bit of a competitive edge, particularly in board games, so celebrating when someone else wins doesn’t come naturally. I hear myself saying ‘It’s not the winning that matters, it’s the taking part’ but secretly I want to win. You could say this is harmless fun and […]

#thoughtfulthursday 27: Be happy for people’s happiness

5th July 2018 tagged celebration / Choice / community / connection / Dreams / happiness / Hope / Kindness / Love / relationship / Sharing / Strength / Thankfulness

Sometimes there is nothing harder than asking for help. At the best of times, it takes courage to swallow our pride and at the worst of times we may not even have the strength or awareness to ask. I was blessed by people who took the initiative to help me […]

#thoughtfulthursday 26: Take the initiative

28th June 2018 tagged community / help / initiative / Kindness

The concept of buying a suspended coffee is becoming increasingly popular. People buy their own drink and pay in advance for a coffee that can be claimed by someone in need. It is a simple way to help someone we might never meet. It also enables our local coffee shops to […]

#thoughtfulthursday 25: Pay for two

21st June 2018 tagged care / community / connection / Foodbanks / Kindness / Sharing