Kindness travels through life every second of the day.
The photo above is the cover of my friend, Lisa Metwaly’s children’s book she wrote several years ago.
Because I spoke with her recently about her kindness campaign, I was inspired to write this article.
You see, as Lisa says:
“Kindness takes more time, effort and courage. It’s different from being nice.”
Since Lisa and her husband, Jimmy, owned the Q Kindness Cafe, in St. Paul, Minnesota, when I met her many years ago, their mission intrigued me.
Additionally, in 2008, Lisa with the help of the then mayor of St. Paul, Norm Coleman, proclaimed the first week of each month, Kindness Week.
As well, Lisa, a Delta Airlines flight attendant, brought her Kindness Campaign to the airline. Speaking to many of the employees about the importance of being kind.
As a result of raising the awareness of each of our responsibilities, to be kind, our world can become a far better place.
It all begins with you and me.
Your kindness matters.
It all starts with your small act of kindness and ripples on from there.
While the Q Kindness Cafe was open, it was burglarized. Here is the response Lisa gave to the media afterward:
“People do random acts of violence, but what if they did random acts of kindness?” Metwaly said Monday. “This is my little test. I said to myself, ‘Practice what you preach, Lisa.’ What you give comes back, so you just give more.
Metwaly’s “kindness campaign” means the restaurant regularly gives $5 gift certificates to customers and asks them to hand them out, preferably to strangers. The cafe has monthly speakers at its “Insights and Inspirations” series.
The customers “get it,” Metwaly said. Diners often pick up the bill for people they don’t know, she said. People have dropped off a box of handmade mittens, bags of food for food shelves and books for preschoolers learning to read.
Metwaly said her philosophy developed after her 20-year-old sister was killed in a Forest Lake car accident in 1990.
“She gave me strength to live for the day,” Metwaly said. “You turn the negative around. You have to. It’s like a vortex if you don’t. We can continue to go down the path that won’t serve us, or go down the path that will.”
Above all, Lisa is an inspiration to everyone she meets.
She still flies as a senior flight attendant with Delta Airlines and spreads her campaign around the world.
While looking at Lisa’s FB page, she asked her followers what they thought the difference between being kind and being nice was.
Here are some of the answers:
“Kind is intentional and from the core. It can be inherent or taught by example.
Nice is superficial and done by anyone.”
“Nice is situational and comes from the brain. Kindness comes from our souls.”
“Kind feels embodied and warm.
Nice feels performative and temporary.”
Finally, what are your thoughts about all of this?
How can you make the choice to be more kind?
Consider buying some of the books to share with the little people in your life.
They include exercises and games to help promote everything I’ve shared here.
Lisa also is open to speaking to schools and groups.
Think about a world where our children learn the importance of being kind.
With love and kindness,
Connie
PS. Here is the link to go to Lisa’s website to download the free eBook as well as purchase the hard copy of her book. All profits from this book go to the charity, Minnesota Kindness Alliance:
http://www.kindnesstravels.com
https://kindnesstravels.com/videos/ Watch videos of Lisa speaking about ideas she implemented, that you can also do and pass along.
PSS. There are a team of “silent, kindness warriors”, who paint these wooden signs and carry them to give away here in the US and in 78 other countries. They have given away over 110,000 signs to date. The one shown below, Lisa left behind in Egypt.
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