Kindness | Mollie'sThoughts

Hello everyone.

As promised, I’m here with a bonus post which will be a more regular occurrence! For this bonus post (which also happens to be my 20^th post), I thought I’d do another ‘Mollie’s Thoughts’ edition focusing on kindness.

The word “kind” is one that we say many many times in our sentences and it is one of those go-to words that just springs to mind and is recognised by everyone. It’s a word that is one of the first we use when listing a friend’s personality traits – kind, thoughtful, funny etc or to round up a letter/ e-mail ("kind regards,"). We use this same word so many times that sometimes we can just use it like any other, without much thought or attention; we forget it’s real importance and meaning.

The online dictionary’s definition of kindness is:   “The act of being friendly, generous and considerate.”

In today’s world, everyone seems to always be in a hurry without even enough time to say a passing “hello” to a neighbour. But I think it’s so important to always make time to show people a little kindess.

For all we know, the other person could be having a terrible day and your kind smile and cheerful “hello there” could be just what they need to pick themselves back up! We all know that scenario very well don’t we? We’ve all been there and felt how much of an impact a strangers’ kindness can have. We also know the impact of when someone simply avoids an act of kindness because they’re being too self-focused to notice/help you. For example, if you’re carrying heavy books through a corridor behind someone and they simply let the door swing shut behind them rather than holding it for you. Or when you’re in a rush somewhere and you’ve dropped something and though people around you have noticed, they keep quiet - leaving you to realise what you’ve done yourself about 50 steps later.

It’s these simple acts of kindness that can make or break someone’s day so why don’t we make the effort to be more "friendly, generous and considerate" to others and make a difference?

We all know a smile is infectious, but so is kindness! When we demonstrate an act of kindness, it will touch and inspire those around us to go on to do something kind for someone else; the potential for a whole train of kind actions and happier people is held in the hands of someone who offers a tissue to a stranger who is sneezing or says “thankyou” to someone who serves us at a checkout.

Adults spend most of their time teaching their little ones to “say please and thankyou” and “don’t be rude” but we ourselves let our actions slip sometimes. So next time the occasion arises, let’s give a stranger a smile, help someone who looks lost, say our pleases and thank yous and hold the door open for someone whether they’re holding heavy items or not. Let’s bring back the old-fashioned manners and courtesy that Britain is famous for and let's show everyone around us some kindness.

20 Acts of Kindness

Now, as this is my 20th post on my blog I thought, why not incorporate it into this theme? So this week (by next Monday), I challenge you to carry out 20 significant acts of kindness and either blog them and link it back to this post (if you're a blogger), leave them in the comments or even write them down somewhere such as a notebook if you'd rather keep them personal and let's see how many people's lives you're able to touch in a positive way in one week! You can also write down their reaction as well if you'd like.

Everyone wants to change the world, so let's begin with baby steps and help make some people smile this week!

Mollie

♥

P.S. I'm so grateful to have this blog and have reached even a small milestone of 20 posts! I'm even more grateful to have every one of you who reads my blog and I want you to know that you're all very special to me.
Don't forget to follow me on Blog Lovin' or add my blog to your 'reading list' if you have an account on blogger! See you soon. xx

Be Your Own Bestfriend | Mollie'sThoughts#1

Hello my lovely readers.

This is technically a "bonus" blog today as it is not yet Thursday (when I usually upload) so I am technically not late. Technically.

As promised I am writing my first installment of "Mollie's Thoughts" today - how exciting! - and I thought I would begin  by talking about something we should all try to focus on -being your own bestfriend.

(This is not my photo but I found it on various instagram pages so I'm not sure where it's original source is.)

Being your own bestfriend is something we have all heard about from inspiring youtubers and celebrities and read about in the occasional motivating articles we find in magazines. It is not, however, something we always put it into practice. 

Being your own bestfriend isn't vain or selfish in anyway and it doesn't mean sending our friends packing just to sit in a corner and hug ourselves -even though hugs are the best. It's about putting your wellbeing and your happiness first in order to maintain your mental health and to prevent you from feeling rubbish about yourself.

Sometimes, for whatever reason, we can have those days where we look in the mirror and just don't like ourselves. We begin to point out our flaws and re-live everything we've done wrong and everything that we'd like to change. It's when the little voice in the back of our mind speaks up and tell us we're not pretty, we have no friends, we have no talent, we can't achieve our dreams etc. and if we're not careful, we can begin to believe it. 

So let's think about this for a moment. Let's imagine that we said the things we tell ourselves to someone else. Imagine you told your bestfriend that they were fat, ugly, useless, alone etc. Do you think they would still be your bestfriend? The answer, unless you have a one in a million, should be no. We would never tell our bestfriend cruel things about themselves and yet we can quite easily sit and say those same hurtful things to ourselves. Nobody wants to hear that; nobody should have to hear that. So why do we do it to ourselves? Why do we make ourselves feel rubbish when we're the only person that we are guaranteed we will always be around? Why do we bully the one person we're going to spend every minute of our lives with? Life would be so much easier and we would be so much happier if instead of being our own worst enemy, we became our own best friend.

So instead of dwelling on mistakes we've made, let's learn to laugh at ourselves and learn from them. Instead of telling ourselves that we look terrible today, let's tell ourselves that we'll try to be extra beautiful on the inside. Instead of treating ourselves and our worries with little respect, let's make ourselves feel special and learn to love our quirks, flaws and weaknesses equally to our strengths - just as we would a friend. Because that's what being a friend is all about; accepting and loving the other person for who they are - flaws and all.

Let's give it a go! I challenge you (once you've finished reading this post) to write down 10 things you love about yourself (either in your diary, on the back of a bus timetable or even better, in a comment below). It can be anything from your smile to the way you make a mean cheesecake - anything. You deserve to know everything that makes you special and who knows you better than you? 

People come and go in our lives, but we will never be without ourselves so why not make life better by showing ourselves some love?

Mollie

♥

Breathe Slow

Hello everyone.

I’ve realised that week by week I have to go back and look at my previous post to remember what it contained. That’s the great thing about having a blog I guess, it reminds me (and gives you an insight into) what is happening in my life at a particular time and my likes, dislikes, attitudes and memories of that time.

Speaking of likes and dislikes, I have always really enjoyed Alesha Dixon’s song Breathe Slow. It has been my go-to song whenever I’ve felt stressed out, weighed down or just generally needed a reminder to just relax -I especially enjoy listening to it during exams.

This has been one of those weeks where I’ve took a quiet moment to listen to it (or sing… if nobody’s listening). It’s been a little stressful and as an already self-confessed stresser it’s been tiring. As you know I’ve had my Advanced Higher art to finish this week (it's all I seem to blog about) and with only two days available to go into school and sort it I wasn’t sure if I’d get it done. To my surprise though I managed to dash into school, package and label everything and get the next bus two hours later as I had completed it. Art coursework? Check.

But the most stressful event this week has been quite a personal one. There was a bit of a family situation which took place involving a loved one going to hospital to receive some potentially devastating news. It’s quite difficult to even write about so I won’t go into detail. I’d also prefer to keep it private. But thankfully, after many, many prayers the news we received was not as bad as expected and normality I beginning to resume in the family.

One thing this has taught me though is that life is too short. I spend the majority of time stressing about one thing or another- worrying about what other people think of me to what I’ll have on my toast in the morning-and to be honest, I’m being pretty ridiculous. So what if I make mistakes? What does it matter what others think about me? Why should I sweat the small stuff? Life is too short and too amazing to worry about the silly little things. The bigger picture is what’s important. I have my health, I have amazing friends and family, a job, opportunities, hobbies, an education; all the things that make me happy. It doesn’t matter what the next person thinks of my life because they’re not living it. Everyone is unique and different and beautiful in their own way.

I’ve realised this is now turning a little preachy but it is only because this is something that really touches my heart. It’s your life, live it how YOU want to and do things that make YOU happy and that will make YOU smile when you sit in your rocking chair one day and reminisce.

Another thing that has happening this week is that because of all my stressing I have rushed my days away before I even knew it therefore leaving hardly any time to appreciate what’s going on. This happens sometimes for me because of my worrying which is why I occasionally have a reflective day where I chill out at home and just process my life a little –this is where I get inspired for a lot of things. I read my Bible, write in a diary or my “What I’m grateful for today” book and just think. Because part of life being so short is that we need to treasure and remember every happy moment of it.

This leads me back to the beginning of my blog, –a circle of writing, my old English teacher would be proud- where I talked about how grateful I am to have a blog where I can put my thoughts and ideas down so I won’t ever forget them.

So, this week I’m going to make a conscious effort to Breathe Slow and take everything in so that when I’m sitting in my stockings, false teeth and cardigan I can look back and remember each precious moment of my life and remember how blessed I am to live it.

I’d also like to add that something else I am grateful to have also come out of our horrible ordeal this week is that I feel I have reconnected with my Christian faith and more importantly, with Jesus. He gave me peace on the day of the news that I can’t describe and led me to passages that gave me hope and for that I’m so blessed.

Mollie

♥