The Effort of Kindness

When I took a year to get my MBA, we went through an exercise where everyone in the class had to get across a wall. We couldn't help lift the person over and you could only help one person each. This is me helping the last person up and over by hanging off the wall and then ab crunching them up over the top. It was a powerful moment for me. It taught me something simple - we all need to act from kindness to others. I happened to have the physical strength to help the last person up and over. They in turn had to let me do so. Kindness is an effort to share the self with others without expecting any return result. It also is an action which precludes some degree of pride on both sides.
Just yesterday I was walking along the Pier in Seal Beach with one of my trainers, Vidal. I noticed a friend and fellow entrepreneur who was clearly not having the best day. Upon my return walk I sat down with her and we shared with each other some of the challenges we both were facing. It was a moment of kindness for both of us. We both were reminded that we need to just take a moment, be kind to one another and get back out there and keep "eating the elephant one bite at a time." We seem often seem remarkably pulled together on the outside, but we all have our problems and all have the "wall" at some point to get across. At other times, we are the one who can help another over. So expend some effort towards kindness.