Thoughtfulness Practices

When I was growing up, I was taught to be “mindful” and considerate of others around me. For me, it was just an obvious extension of the Golden Rule. You treat others as you would want to be treated, EVEN if they didn’t treat you the same way. Personally, I took that as a challenge to be as kind, as considerate, as thoughtful of others as I would want them to be to me. Now, of course, I wasn’t and still aren’t, as successful in my day to day life as I would like to be. I can be short with people, as well as hurried and less than thoughtful. This value, this idea of Thoughtfullness I believe is needed more than ever in our world today. Too many times throughout the day I encounter people who are more interested in their point of view, of getting ahead, of being less than gracious yet wanting others to treat them far differently then they are willing to treat others. It’s a sad but true fact and in truth not isolated to American society or even any specific time. Some people have inherently been more self-centered. So with this in mind, I wanted to sketch out some practices as a reminder to myself and ideas for you, dear readers, that will make your day and encounters with others hopefully a happier and more uplifting experience.

What do I mean by thoughtfulness? Thoughtfulness means spending time putting yourself in other people’s shoes in other words, practicing empathy. It also means considering…