There is strength in kindness.
A memorable line from Ricky Gervais's series 'Afterlife' is 'I thought not caring was a superpower. I was wrong. Caring about stuff, that's what really matters. Kindness. Making other people feel good. That's the real superpower, and we've all got it.'
There are moments of kindness - flashes - in our everyday.
A heart-shaped pottery bowl sits by my laptop. Emily and I bought each other one when she was a teenager. It's full of the usual bits and bobs; paperclips, USBs for backups, little red paper hearts from a card long since gifted and a varnished stone. A young lad called Owen painted a rainbow on it and we met him during a trip to Cumbria when we rode on the Ravendale & Eskdale narrow gauge steam railway. Dalegarth station is at the end of the line and there is a large turntable to turn the trains for their return journey. Tim and I stood there watching it work and a young lad at my side started asking questions. His name was Owen and we had a lovely chat. Later, we were having a cuppa in the cafe and Owen came up and gave me a stone he had painted. I showed him the notebook Tim had bought me, with pages made from pebbles. Owen's Mum explained that he paints these pebbles in his bedroom at home and she varnishes them for him. Owen gifts them to people he meets and leaves them in random places for people to find. He believes they carry kindness. 🩷
There is a beautiful painting of a butterfly on a purple daisy with sparkles in the paint, so it always catches the light and this hangs on the wall behind my desk. My lovely friend Sue Dreamwalker painted it, as she had sensed my life was about to transform in ways I couldn't imagine and she could see me flying. How right she was as I met Tim soon after and on his suggestion, I now flow in my daily round as a funeral celebrant. My life has been transformed. 💜
Hanging on the side of my office organiser is a key with a note attached from Tim, saying it's the key to his heart. A tiny red voile bag holds a little Robin badge from a memorial service for loved ones who have passed we attended at Christmas, it hangs beside a small pottery cup of latte with gold sparkly coffee inside from Tim (my favourite drink), a tiny blue voile bag that held a forget-me-not badge from a friend's beloved Nan's service, which I have worn to every service I have taken since, a stained-glass healing angel my Mum brought back as a gift from the Isle of Skye many moons ago, a crystal gift from a bereaved family member who has become a friend. She hoped I would return to offering channelled readings from the world of spirit and I have in a way, as I now write and create celebrations of life. There is love from spirit in every word. And standing beside all of these treasured objects is a pretty fairy wish jar, made by another lovely friend, Michele. She painted the glass and lid with pearlised paint and decorated them with her treasured finds; glass, metal, wooden beads, little crystals, a wooden ladybird, pearly beads and sparkly hearts. 💚