World Kindness Day will be celebrated around the world on November 13. First introduced in 1998 by the World Kindness Movement, World Kindness Day offers an opportunity to highlight good deeds in the community and the common thread of kindness.
It is an annual event that encourages individuals to practice kindness in their daily lives. It highlights the importance of empathy, understanding, and cooperation to create a more harmonious and caring world.
While we may think that this means being kind to others, it can also mean being kind and compassionate to ourselves, especially survivors of domestic abuse or violence. Survivors have often been told by their partners that they are worthless or that they don’t matter, so it is incredibly important for survivors to be kind to themselves.
“Many survivors still live with the soundtrack of our abusive lives in our heads: “You’re stupid,” “You’re ugly,” “It’s your fault that I did this to you.” The B-side of the soundtrack can be just as damaging: “I love you” can cause an inordinate amount of confusion when coming from someone abusive, especially when it is clear that in that moment, that they mean it,” award-winning author Alle C. Hall shares. “To be kind to myself means replacing that soundtrack with one of my own making. I use affirmations. They may seem goofy and “soooo 1980s,” but they work. Three times a day, into my eyes in the mirror. Three times each I say: I am beautiful, inside and out; I am worthy of love; I am perfectly healthy and pain-free; all I need is amply provided for, and I am safe. It was a little embarrassing, at first, but the more I chanted my affirmations, the better I felt. And it’s free!”
Now available as an audiobook, Alle C. Hall’s award-winning novel, “As Far As You Can Go Before You Have To Come Back,” is a story about a survivor of abuse who discovers the path to healing after she escapes her abusive family.
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