I recently wrapped up my 14 week kindness “class”. This class was offered to the general public by the Puget Sound Community School, a private school in Seattle for 11 to 18 year olds. The school founder, Andy Smallman, created the class “to start ripples of kindness that will be felt in far away places, touching others and creating even more kind acts.”

Each Sunday we were given assignments to perform that week. The assignments ranged from doing something kind for ourselves, because you can’t be kind to others if you’re not kind to yourself, to doing something kind anonymously to leaving something nice for someone to find, etc.

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I just attended a small business roundtable group which serves as a forum for entrepreneurs seeking business advice and mentoring. The facilitator couldn’t be there so we were on our own to lead the discussion with a couple of suggested topics. Unfortunately that led to trouble.

We started out talking about economic projections but a couple of people moved the discussion to politics. Only a few people participated in the political conversation and they all seemed to agree with each other. There seemed to be an assumption that we all felt the same way. I was very uncomfortable and I suspect I wasn’t the only one.

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There is quite a buzz about the H1N1 or swine flu. And, for good reason given how dangerous it’s proving to be with younger people. Here are a few things you can do to protect yourself and others from getting sick. [...]

In a recent yoga class we were asked to switch the cross of our legs and change how we intertwine our fingers so the other thumb is on top. It wasn’t easy to do and it felt very uncomfortable. It reminded me that habits are so deeply engrained in us. [...]

I subscribe to a few different blogs of people I admire or enjoy. One recent blog post surprised me as it seemed out of character for this blogger. It was a bit like a brag about how busy he was and why it was making him a better person. He outlined minute by minute what he was doing one day. A few times the timeline included the statement that he was chatting with people while “picking off a few emails” or taking phone calls. He went on stating how full every minute was. Even when he was alone he was doing something – email, writing, etc.  He seemed exhausted by his life while also talking about how necessary it is to work like this because he’s “out to win.” [...]