Kind Camp
Dear Self,
In a recent session, one of my clients shared her mother’s threat to send her to mean camp (a.k.a. anger management therapy). We vented about toxic positivity and how frustrating it is to hear be nice and why aren’t you smiling? every five minutes. And then I had an idea. Kind Camp.
I’ll make a kind camp, so you don’t have to go to mean camp, I said enthusiastically. Tell your mom you are going to Johnna’s kind camp.
Okay, if you say so, she said less enthusiastically.
We do not have to be kind all the time.
We do not have to be any one thing, all the time. Sometimes kindness is not the answer, but if you are looking for strategies to improve overall mood, kind camp may be helpful. This is a camp we can all do from home within daily living. Below is what I shared with my client.
What exactly is Kind Camp?
Keep a daily gratitude practice
Gratitude journal
Say aloud what you are grateful for in the morning and/or night
Spend five minutes outside to take in the awe of nature’s beauty
Compliment strangers
Smile at strangers
Kindness rocks
Gather some rocks and use paint or permanent markers to write kind messages on them. You can use the rocks a variety of different ways. You can put them around town in your neighborhood, at parking lots, police and fire stations, etc.. You can create a rock garden by your front door. You can use them as gifts for people. I even used them as party favors for my daughter’s fifth birthday party- every little kid got to take home a rock with a kind message from our house!
Give to someone in need
Donate used books to the library or clothes to a shelter
Pick up litter
Send thank-you cards to people (like in the actual mail)
Read positive affirmations
Do not gossip
Listen before speaking
Pay for the stranger’s coffee next in line at the drive-thru
Say sorry when necessary
Appreciate the little things
How we show up in the world affects not only other people, but also ourselves.
It feels good to be kind and loving to humanity. Feeling good, feels good.
xoxo,
Self
At Dear Self Trauma Therapy, our goal is to support you in feeling safe and confident in your body, identity, and relationships. Serving Phoenix, Arizona and beyond, we help our clients reach transformative change.