Active and Passive Kindness

This past week doing the AOK challenge has made me realize something very important about how I carry out this requirement. Some of the prompts were no brainers, holding the door for someone, telling a joke, sharing something with a friend. These are things that I would normally do even if it wasn't an I Ho Chaun requirement. Then there are some that require almost the same "level" of energy, complimenting a stranger, let someone else in front of you in line, clean up a mess that isn't yours. These are things that I try to do as often as the opportunity arises, and I definitely notice it as an Act of Kindness (as opposed to the earlier examples that I sometimes see as just being polite).

But this challenge has made me realize that I am very passive when it comes to my acts of kindness. In order to fulfill many of the bingo spots I had to go out of my way to do something, I had to set aside time in my day, or space in my brain. I wasn't just waiting for an opportunity to come along, I was going out and hunting for it, I was making it exist. Moving forward in the Year of the Dragon this is the approach I want to take for this requirement, not just doing random acts of kindness, but creating moments of kindness.

Reading this back I had a tiny a-ha! about the "what does acts of kindness have to do with learning how to punch someone in the face?" that we mentioned in classes leading up to this challenge; it's the exact same as fighting/sparring! I will be a much better fighter if I am creating opportunities/openings, setting things up so that I can seize them rather than just waiting for a convenient moment to magically appear. It has to do with control: controlling your opponent, controlling circumstances, and controlling opportunities.

Kayley Burke