Extending the Hand of Kindness

Key Takeaways:

• When we extend kindness - we extend love
• Principle: Extending love through kindness changes lives
• Invitation: Assess how the hand of kindness has impacted your life and extend that same impact to someone else.
• Promise: As you extend the hand of kindness to others, your life will change, and you will step into the shoes of a kindness hero with the potential to be someone else's miracle!

A short and to the point newsletter today.

PRINCIPLE

• Extending the hand of kindness, which extends the love that we all need, changes lives.

Examples:

Angelique Letizia recently share a story about her son that I've share previously in this newsletter. They were walking by a homeless man when her little boy waved at him. The man responded, "You're waving at me?" Her son then said "Hi" and then gave the man a high five. When Angelique, offered the man some money he refused it saying, "Your son has given me more today than any amount of money could.”

Jodi Orgill Brown, MS, CFRE , a fantastic speaker and author who, by the way, just released a new book Depression Fighter (highly recommended), shared a story of her encounter with a homeless man during the 2023 Northern Utah Chapter of the National Speakers Association storytelling contest. It's too long to go into all the details here, but I can't recommend highly enough that you click on the link above and watch it. Just to keep it short, she saw the man, gave him $10 and had a brief conversation. She then went to the bank to get some cash for personal use when she heard a voice in her head, "get some money and take it to that man on the corner. Confused she thought, "Been there, done that - check!" She felt again like she should take him some money. She did and had a powerful experience that blessed her and the man whose name she never knew.

The story of my friend Zack Demopoulos 's father is another example. When an employee got caught stealing hamburger, rather than fire here his father extended the hand of kindness and mercy and made sure she knew if she ever needed help, she could ask. She became his most trusted and loyal employee for the next fifteen years.

In my on life, my dear friends Gary Orchard, and Lance Erickson, Ed.D. extended the hand of kindness by drawing me into their circles of friends at a pivotal time. The ripple effects of their kindness continue to this day.

INVITATION

I invite you to take a few minutes and assess how the hand of kindness has impacted your life. Then ask yourself, "How am I doing, personally and professionally, at extending the hand of kindness to myself, and to others." Please notice I put "myself" in there first. If we can't extend the hand of kindness to the man or woman in the mirror, we'll have a very difficult time extending it to anyone else.

Take the time to write down the areas in which are doing well, both personally and professionally, and those areas where there is room for improvement. Based on your results, make a plan for improving any areas you've identified need for improvement. Then intentionally act on your plan. And, at the same time, actively look for the random opportunities to extend kindness that always present themselves when we are paying attention.

PROMISE

Here's my promise to you. As you actively, intentionally, implement your plan, and look for and act on the random opportunities to be kind that you find, you will be happier and be the means of being a miracle in someone else's life. In thinking of that, miracles are very rarely the big thing. They are the little things that end up making the biggest difference.

Until next time. Remember to embrace kindness. It does every body good!

Randall McNeely is a passionate advocate for kindness and the transformative power it can have in our lives.

He is the author of multiple books including The Kindness Givers' Formula 2.0: A 5-Step Guide to Reaching Hearts, Inspiring Change, and Healing the World Through Love, and The Kindness Library Volume 1: Inspiring True Stories of the Transformative Power of Kindness.

Randy speaks about and teaches how to use kindness driven positive messaging to bring out the best in people.

Reach out today to book Randy for your next event.

A powerful, easy-to-learn-and-apply formula for ingraining the daily habit of kindness giving and a collection of wonderful stories of kindness in action all wrapped up in one short, easy to read book. Get yours today!

A heart-warming collection of 12 stories giving glimpses of the transformative power of love through kindness. A forty-five minute uplift you won't want to miss. Get your copy now!

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Are you looking for ways to bring out the best in your community? Consider supporting Kindness Worldwide in their initiatives to do just that by providing resources and initiative play books to create cultures of kindness in communities around the globe.

Kindness Worldwide has a mission and many initiatives focused on bringing a kindness to communities worldwide including Kindness Week, Champions of Kindness and Kindness CoTails.

Check out the video below and stop by their website to learn more about how they can help you can help you in your efforts to bring out the best in the people of your communities.