Kindness Exponentials!

If you love an engineer or know someone who loves an engineer, then you may have laughed at some point at the short clip called, “The knack.”  Essentially, it is a cartoon (Dilbert) that paints the scene of a mom bringing her young son into the doctor’s office.  The mom explains many symptoms to the doctor regarding observed behaviours displayed by her son.  The traits described by the mom are all comical.   Near the end of the cartoon, the young son has taken I believe the doctor’s photocopier apart & enhanced it.  The doctor finally tells the mom that he is afraid that the son has “the knack.”  “The knack” is the news that the son is going to be an engineer.  It is a hoot.  You may enjoy looking it up on-line & watching it for a giggle especially if you have a Dear Heart engineer in your heart & life.

Life is funny sometimes because over the years I have found that I have had to not only recall former math skills, but also enhance them.  Some of this has happened naturally & some by self-force.  Humbly, I will share with you that I was repelled by math by about grade 11.  By grade 12, I remember telling my then boyfriend (now husband) that I had enough math to get by in life.  My assertion was that I was really not going to need any more math because my plan was to go into the social sciences/counseling field.  My husband gave me a look that spoke volumes…you may know the one…the one that says without words that in time I would come to my senses. 

Yes, it took a wee bit of time, but sure enough, it became abundantly clear that math was here to stay in my life.  It made itself into life in countless ways but none so neon as when my life depended on it.  If you have type 1 diabetes, you may agree that our lives depend on solid math skills too.  Although we have insulin pumps, we are still very much the brains or math behind the machine.  We have to factor in things like exercise & stress & colds or other illness to name a few.  We learn terms like “stacking” & to avoid that again for safety & math reasons. 

Frankly, I am still not crazy about math but I have built up a tolerance for it.  For sure, my unique abilities do not go anywhere near “the knack” yet especially for the past 5 years, I have learned to appreciate math.

Have you ever thought about what kindness exponentials might look like?  There are tremendous examples of every day kindnesses in the world.  The magic is being fully present to appreciate these kindness gifts.  Over &  over again we hear that “it is in the little things that our hearts cherish most.” 

We all have those days or weeks or times in our lives where we are running in what seems like many directions.  Last week was one of those weeks for us in our family.  There was a very special celebration to prepare for & my heart wanted to do everything possible to contribute to our oldest son seeing how celebrated he is.  As I ran out the door one morning, I realized that I had not tracked my medication properly & had run out of one of my meds.  That is unusual because I usually inventory these.  Drat, this meant that I would have to get over to the pharmacy on the double.  Our pharmacist is one of the most caring, genuinely wonderful people.  She has jumped through hoops to obtain pump supplies for me from the States over & over again.  I am her only “pumper” so she has to place a special order each time for 1 box of insulin pump supplies.  I always thank her & appreciate her.  As I arrived at the pharmacy, I explained to the pharmacist that I needed to place an order for a medication that they stock thankfully & that I had run out.  What I did not realize though was that I had forgotten my repeat prescription which was still under a magnet on our refrigerator.  Creatively & caringly, the pharmacist solved the problem instantly.  It was not just that she did this, but it was in the “how” she did it that warmed my heart.  I hope you have had these moments of being warmed by kindnesses too.  My usual mere thank you ever so much just would not suffice.  The words came straight from my heart as I said, “you are the face of love.”

This morning was the dreaded morning of the blood lab appointment to test for A1C.  As often as I have made this trip to the lab, it does not get much easier.  Sometimes, there is a particularly painful experience with the testing & like many folks with diabetes, my skin bruises easily & is slow to heal.  Sometimes, my forearm looks like I have had a sports injury the next day after a lab visit.  This morning, I had a virtually pain free test.  I looked the lab tech in the eyes & from my heart  thanked her & shared with her how much I appreciated her technique.  I have never had such a pain free blood lab experience.  She smiled from ear to ear.  Her smile is with me still.

These are  just two examples of countless ones.  We all have those days where we are a little off our day & to have a heartfelt act of kindness or compassion makes all the difference in the world.

The best part is when we make the opportunity to thank others from our hearts.  It fills us up with such gratitude.  Have you found too that when you have received an act of love that it spills over & you cannot help but share that with others?  It truly only does take one ripple of kindness to create ongoing love in the world.  It can start with someone else and or it can begin with us.  Or, perhaps, we are neither the beginning nor the middle…it could be that the ripple of kindness or love has been here all along & sometimes we see it or feel it or appreciate it & other times we do not.  Either way, love & kindness are exponential.  Now that part of math, it absolutely awesome!

My heart’s hope for you is that you feel exponentially loved & cared about & you too are the source of this for Dear Hearts in the world.

Smiles, Saundie :)

Happy Victoria Day Weekend & Monday's sharing is entitled, "What Colour Are the Stripes Again?"  :)