Recently, someone said to me an approximation of, “I have breathed in the kindness you have offered me.” In response, I thought, “Wow, what a beautiful, honouring, and powerful thing to do—to pause and spend time breathing in the well wishes someone has offered, the kindness someone has felt toward you, to take some time to really let that come in”. I also thought that what this person did exemplified such a touching way to show appreciation toward the sender of the kindness, too.

So here you have something to experiment with if you wish, a way of trying to activate feelings of acceptance, soothing, and connection. When someone offers you good wishes or kindness or some other variant on this, you could try—if it is something you want to do and it feels right for you—to take some time to pause and breathe the kindness in. It could be a daily practice: remembering kindnesses you’ve been offered that feel okay to remember, allowing yourself to notice them, allowing yourself to receive them, imagining these kindnesses flowing in.