Especially when your heart is heavy, it's wise to
consciously choose KP Duty and treat yourself and others with
Kindness and Patience.
On Easter my heart was heavy. Because of COID-19, church was via Zoom instead of in a light-filled sanctuary. No family gatherings or pastel colored clothing were brightening the day. No communal celebrations of Christ or Mother Nature coming to life again were lightening spirits. Snow, lots of snow was falling. Gloomy skies and temperatures in the teens cast a pall over my mood while they were also freezing my mother's memorial peony and our fully blooming forsythia bush (which was the only flower name my dad could ever remember). As surely as my treasured Lilies of the Valley were frostbitten so, too, were precious family traditions stopped in their tracks, frozen solid. And, another bummer, my hubby Gene wasn't feeling well. I wish I could say I immediately adopted K.P. Duty once the phrase occurred to me, but that didn't happen. I can say I wasn't outwardly unkind nor blatantly impatient, but I imagine my energy reeked of it nonetheless. The best I could do on Easter was eventually accept how I felt, consciously assume a demeanor of kindness, and act with patience. I made a commitment to treat myself and Gene (and Riley, the elder kitty) as gently as possible.Even though it's still gray, cold, and snowing, today kindness and patience are tentatively poking their noses through the thawing crust of my grief and disappointment. I've had genuine kind and patient moments and even enjoyed a couple of good laughs. By continuing to choose acceptance and gentleness toward myself and my housemates, hopefully tomorrow kindness and patience will be less a duty and more a natural flow whispering from my soul.