Here you thought I had written the last about kindness a couple weeks ago, but something came my way I just had to share.

This inspiration came from a quote James Clear included in his 3-2-1 Newsletter. His weekly missive is golden and inspires my work and life habits to this day. You should check it out.

James Clear, as it would have it, was the one who inspired me to start foodtalk4you and shared how to do it! Thanks, James!

Without further ado, here is the quote from an interview that brought tears to my eyes:

Investor Rick Buhrman on the kindness of mastering your craft:

INTERVIEWER: What is the kindest thing that anyone’s ever done for you?​

BUHRMAN: … our oldest son, Theo, who just turned seven, spent the first six months of his life in several NICUs. He was eventually helicoptered to Indianapolis at Riley Hospital for Children. And while we were living in that NICU for almost a half a year we saw a lot of kids who passed away. Most of those kids were not as sick as Theo was.

I don’t know exactly why Theo survived, but I know that a major part of how he survived was because for several decades leading up to that moment, numerous nurses, nurse practitioners, respiratory therapists, doctors, surgeons had committed themselves wholeheartedly to mastering their craft. I can give you tons and tons of examples of these people. And I know that in the moment, it wasn’t necessarily viewed as kindness.

But maybe in some sense, the kindest thing that all of us can do is to pursue something radically that in some way is in service to others, because you just don’t know how it’s going to change the trajectory of human life. And so for all of those medical practitioners, none of whom I’m sure are listening to this, I owe everything to, because they gave me the gift of being Theo’s dad.

Source: Invest Like the Best

If you are pursuing or have pursued “something radically that in some way is in service to others” – thank you so much!

Medical professionals, teachers, ministers, farmers, scientists, researchers, police and emergency personnel – the list goes on and on. The librarian who helped you may not have saved your life, but the book you were guided to may have changed the trajectory of your life.

May we all be reminded to acknowledge others’ dedication to years of training and diligent study to be able to apply their expertise in making our lives better – or even happen at all.

What a beautiful thought: being in the trenches honing your helpful craft is really one of the kindest things you may ever do.

Have you ever thought about kindness that way before?

In health and feeling inspired to press on with getting Toolkit for Caregiver Emotions out there

– Deidre

“Oops! After joyfully creating a thank you letter to you – our dear subscribers – and putting it into the system that sends them out, we awoke red-faced the next day when realizing that the part of the program that personalizes each email with the recipient’s name was not properly set up. 

As a result, readers were addressed by “Dear [First name or Friends]”. Good grief. Our trusty editor, Sheree, dove back into the mailing program to straighten out the glitch and she resent the letter to all of our subscribers, properly addressed!

Sorry for the confusion. Sheree probably has no hair left, I’m sure. Next time you get a note from us, it will be addressed to YOU!