top of page

Caring

Take care of the other person, and do as much good as you can.

​

How do you show care toward someone? What helps you move from "just take care of myself" to "I want to help take care of someone else"? What thoughts and feelings seem to block you from responding in a caring way? What if we could see ourselves as a caregiver for all people?

Perspectives

Business Lessons From A Quiet Gardener, by William Rosenzweig, entrepreneur, gardener

"In essence, the gardener's work is a life of care. We cultivate abundance from scarce resources. We nurture, encourage, fertilize - and prune when necessary - while being respectful of the true and wild nature of all things."

Force of Kindness, by Sharon Salzberg, teacher

"Many of us long for an underlying sense of meaning, something we can still believe in no matter what happens to us, a navigational force to pull all the disparate pieces of our lives together into some kind of whole. Perhaps we find ourselves feeling helpless when even a little too much of the unexpected occurs, defenseless when we find we don’t have control over a situation and can’t fathom what might happen next, unsure of where to turn when we aren’t having the positive effect we want with a troubled family member or a friend."

The Work Of Love Is To Love, by Mark Nepo, author

"My own time on earth has led me to believe in two powerful instruments that turn experience into love: holding and listening. For every time I have held or been held, every time I have listened or been listened to, experience burns like wood in that eternal fire and I find myself in the presence of love."

Action

Provide care or kindness to another person today.

 

Publicly: let someone with fewer items than you go before you in line at the grocery store. Slow down and let someone merge in front of you in traffic. Hand out bottles of water to homeless people (especially on a hot day). Give someone a sincere compliment indirectly, by saying it to one of their close friends or associates. Write a sincere positive online review for a product or service. Buy a child's fundraiser cookies or chocolate. Give a sincere smile and "thank you" to a bus or cab driver as you leave. Give directions to someone who is lost. Hold a door open for someone. Smile at someone who seems sad. 

 

Privately: run an errand, or anything that would be a substantial help to someone. Ask if there's anything you can do to help them.

 

Anonymously: make an anonymous donation to a charity. Pay a bridge toll for the car behind you. Pick up a piece of litter on the street and throw it in a garbage can. Give blood. Leave a snack in the break room at work. Answer someone's question on an online forum.

bottom of page