Listening as Kindness

Watch The Daily Show with Jon Stewart or The Colbert Report.  I mean really watch one of these shows. Hell, I'll even make it easy on you-  don't even listen to what they're saying (even though I recommend it; they're great fun!) if you have no desire.

Holy shit. These people actually listen to each other. Not just in the 'smile & nod' way, either. These folks actually have respect for the person with whom they're speaking, and receiving the same respect in return.

Let's face it, being interrupted sucks. Automatically, when someone interrupts, I am already less inclined to listen to what they have to say. Not only when it's me being interrupted, though. I like hearing the end of stories, and missing out on that is a bummer.

The rule I had to give myself was "If you can't remember your comment when your compatriot is finished speaking, it isn't worth saying and people will hate you"

I'm kidding about the people hating you part... They'll just be annoyed.

I read a study (it's really good!) a little bit ago that got me thinking about kindness. How can I be more kind? What habits are unnecessarily unkind? And I don't just mean romantically; even with my family and coworkers.

My Kindness Assessment didn't go over as well as I hoped. There were a few things that definitely fell out of the 'kind' spectrum, and more than a few things that I realized I could be doing. Overall, I gave my self a C+, remembered how over critical I am, and bumped my grade up to a B-. Still not great.

So here is my challenge to you: It's the holiday season; Let's start working on the little things that can make someone's day brighter. Let's not worry about the 'issues' for a while. Let's just start being nice to each other. I bet if we do that long enough, the issues won't even matter.

So what do you say? Will you pledge to be kind with me? Even if it's as simple as waiting a minute to say your thing. In two weeks, if you can honestly say you did your best at eradicating meanness, and being an advocate for kindness, you are not markedly happier then I will admit that I was wrong. You have to put in the effort, though.

So let's get out there and be kind to stuff. What do you say?