Earlier this week, Patti Digh shared some incredible poetry about the extinction of several unbelievably beautiful creatures who have shared this world with us and who we are about to lose or already lost because of human "progress". The message of the writing was also about how we must come to terms with the fact that our own species in on the brink of extinction too, and perhaps, it is too late to change that course... I felt so powerless in the face of such forces...
And yesterday, Patti also shared a YouTube video of a poem by Andrea Gibson called "The Pursuit of Happiness" which depicts the devastation of war in the Middle East in a way so graphic, that I just had to stop watching after only a few seconds...I felt ill, and hopeless, and knew it would enter my dreams even after only watching a moment or two...
And then this morning, I had a spat with someone I love on the phone. Just a difference of opinions on a morning where this person was in a big hurry to get some important things in her life done, but unfortunately, the difference of opinion ended up leading to unkind words and a very quick and terse good bye.
UN-kind...
On a day like today, when I have war, unkindness, and even the Apocalypse floating around in my consciousness, I don't feel like I know much about anything, or feel certain about much at all.
And yet, when I look inward to find something I can be sure of, something I do know for absolute certainty, what do I find ?
That in the end,
Only Kindness Matters....
I was looking for quotes about kindness this morning after my spat, when I had let hurt and sadness kind of take over my being. I was writing them in my new little journal of "Good Things" to work through my feelings.
(Good things Journal - new, bought at Barnes and Noble for 9.95 - love the already designed pages !)
(Kindness quotes - click to enlarge
"Love is saying " I feel differently" instead of "You are wrong."- unknown)
Of course, this song by Jewel, "Hands" came up in Google a lot. It has become my anthem, my theme song, my solace this morning. I think I have listened to it about 10 times, and will probably listen ten more before I really let everything go today...
I have to admit that I never really loved this song by Jewel before, but I think I never really listened to it with these ears before either. The lyrics are so perfect.
They give me power in a world that sometimes makes me feel helpless.
They give me hope in a world that sometimes makes me feel hopeless.
And they make me feel loved in a world where we can still be so mean to one another, even to those we love.
They inspire me to put my beliefs into actions and to always remember that
In the end,
(Art journal Page - Only Kindness Matters - September 5, 2009)
(art journaling as therapy !!!)
"If I could tell the world just one thing,
It would be, we are all okay..."
15 comments:
This is a beautiful and heartfelt post. I love your painting at the end....it's just perfect!
Kindness. What happens to it? So often it falls by the wayside...because people forget to be kind.
I had this conversation with a very close friend the other day...we speak unkindness and ugliness so easily these days, but to say good things, spiritual things...anything decent seems harder.
We need to correct that and you Miss Kim are going a long towards sending that message.
I'm sorry you had a spat to start your day -- it is the disagreements we have with those we love that hurt...but we can can heal so much easier than those with people who don't matter as much.
Wishing you kindness, kind words, kind thoughts and kind hearts.
Kim,
As I was reading I was think of the jewel song and "Only Kindness Matters" was singing through my head. Its interesting how we can go back to old music and really hear it differently. I love the page you did around this idea. You rock girl...
Kate
In the end . . .
. . . only kindness matters.
Amen, sister, amen.
I would be feeling bad if I had the apocolpyse on my mind too, no wonder a little unkindness slipped out!
The journal page is beautiful and the song a perfect fit. It IS all that matters and you ARE the Queen of Kindness, so don't be too hard on yourself for having a bad day.
hmm..
I saw the trailer to 2012 as well and thought about this new generation of disaster movies - like the new towering inferno - blah..
and kindness...well that requires such strength, it is an act of spiritual bravery to be kind, so thanks for reminding us.
Oh, Kim. There is synchronicity again for me. I, too, couldn't fully watch either of those posts Patti Digh has up. They made me so uncomfortable, it is all so painful to go there. On Thursday I was listening to my Jewel CD while working in the studio and that same quote, "In the end only kindness matters" stood out for me enough to write it down for one of my calendar quotes and I got to wondering if I should attribute it to her or if she was quoting someone else. In the end it doesn't matter if it makes us focus on the kindness. Thanks for sharing.
Living one’s life by those simple words “Be kind” is yet another way to, “Do unto others...”
And what we receive in return is far more than we give.
Love your journal.
You won't even believe that I have been thinking about kindness lately and thinking about posting about it sometime soon...It's crazy how we can be on the same wavelength so often...so cool!! It's so easy sometimes, to be impatient and unkind, but it'd do not worth it!! I'm so guilty of being unkind and working on taking a minute to be more thoughtful.
Also, your video is wonderful! I wasn't too far off with what I imagined you'd sound like, but your voice and presence is even more beautiful and lovely than I imagined. I know what you mean about hating your video presence...I also was told by a jerk a long time ago that he hated my voice. That was terrible (terribly unkind), but I learned to love my voice...it's mine. It's my only one...well anyway, yours is wonderful and so fun to hear it!!
hee hee...I have that same journal from barnes....
okay...and now seriously....I do think we say ugly things to those we love, because they love us and we think we can get away without leaving any scars...
unfortunately....I have some scars and so do some of my loved ones....
life is a huge teacher !!!
Hi, Kim! Love your journal pages and that you share the process of what inspires you to make them. And thanks for already stopping by my blog to see I nominated you for an award! :-)
Here, here sister! Kindness is a way of being we so easily lose when we are feeling over whelmed. As adults we figure we can handle everything but in this age of instant information which is always on the edge of a knife between fact and sensationalism we don't often acknowledge how much it gets to us until that unkind word comes up and out or is received like a slap in the face. So, thank you for reminding us all to be kind first - perhaps our world will improve through a domino effect of kindness. Have a great day anyway. Angela
Beautiful post and journal page!
hey there, Kim. there is a post on LoLaSuzanne.blogspot.com that you might like about kindness. (I didn't write it.) It's called world directive.
p.s. I love posts like yours. makes me feel like somebody else is out there.
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