April - Painting Kindness One Rock at a Time
Does anyone have a Kindness word for me today??? I need one big-time! I am usually so proud of my smart home, having Alexa turn my lights on and off, lift my blinds in the morning and click off the TV before we head to bed. Alexa even sternly tells me to get out of bed every morning, as she reminds me to stretch! Well this morning, I woke to nothing working on the whole system despite the network being up and running. My goodness, I did not realize how many devices are connected to my network. I still have much to do to make my house smart again! Maybe the word or phrase I need to hear is “you can do it” or “let it go”. I’ll decide tomorrow after a good night sleep.
Words of encouragement and kindness are a simple way to change an attitude, redirect a decision, and even save a life. Girl Scout Troop 38380, in 2016, understood the power of words when they started the Kindness Rocks Project at Walnut Beach in Milford, CT.
They painted a slew or rocks with attractive colors and printed words of encouragement, kindness, and hope on them. Their rocks were brought to a sandy spot on the beach where they posted a sign to foster participation from others. Seven years later, Michelle and I joined their movement and brought a fresh batch of kindness rocks to share.
Folks, if you are going to do a fun project and, you have the chance to partner with a Kindergarten teacher, do it! Michelle knew just what was needed and how to make this project fun! She sent me a picture of her kitchen table all set up ready for a few hours of creating, chatting, and of course... snacking! The only thing missing was the art smock! Remember those? Anyway the picture tickled my inner child and I found myself really excited about doing this project. We chatted non-stop as we created our kindness rocks. We had so much fun, the kitchen was filled with laughter.
My favorite rock that I painted was a purple one with the little dog that said, “Praise often”. We all know I have a soft spot for dogs! OMG speaking of dogs, we got our bark box today and Macky went crazy on the box knowing there were goodies inside. The intensity of his determination and strength was unreal for such a little peanut! (turn the volume DOWN!)
Ok - back to the rocks. When Michelle finished painting her rocks, I still had nine more rocks to be done!! Hey, I’m creating, no-one rushed Picasso! Using her sweet, soft, kindergarten teacher voice, Ms. Michelle asked, “Do you need a timer next to you, it’s time to finish up now”. Ok, Ok, I will speed up and leave some detail off my masterpieces! We sprayed a clear sealer on the completed rocks outside of the house, so we did not asphyxiate ourselves.
We packed up the rocks and headed to the beach; time to spread some joy! The Kindness Rock bed was completely empty and sad looking when we got there. The sign has faded over the years, yet people still knew knew what to do. We arranged the rocks in the sandy bed and found a place to sit and watch the beach-walkers. Michelle and I really hoped that someone would see the rocks before we headed home. Not long after we sat down, a couple stopped and bent down to pick up a rock. We were so thrilled to know that our words reached someone! We wanted to stop her and see which rock she chose, but we didn’t.
Later, Michelle took her evening walk on the beach and stopped to see which rocks were gone. Boy was she surprised that only one rock was left after only two hours. We are thrilled that we were able to give back to the community some words of kindness....one rock at a time. Where can you set up a kindness rock garden? Where have you seen something similar to this project? Send us a message!
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