Three Small Acts of Kindness for when it all gets a bit hectic

When you’re in the middle of a hot flush, a wave of anxiety, or that heavy, lead‑blanket exhaustion that seems to come from nowhere, it’s natural to want it to stop. But fighting it often makes it worse like trying to push a beach ball underwater.

Here’s a different approach, gently lay a hand on the part of your body where you feel the discomfort most intensely. Maybe it’s your chest, your belly, your forehead. Don’t press. Just rest it there, like a warm, steady presence.

Now imagine that this is a healing hand. Not in a magical, “make it disappear” way—more like the hand of a friend who knows exactly how you feel and isn’t trying to fix you. Let some warmth flow from your palm into that area. Not to get rid of the sensation, but to soften around it. To make room. To say, without words, “I know this is hard. I’m here with you.”

This is kindness in its most physical form. You’re not abandoning yourself. You’re showing up.

Hold It Like Something Precious

There’s a practice where we treat difficult feelings as if they were a crying baby or a scared puppy. Sounds a bit odd, right? But stay with me. When a baby cries, we don’t scream at it to stop. We hold it gently. We rock it. We offer comfort even if we can’t instantly fix whatever’s wrong.

Now think about how you usually treat your own difficult feelings the irritation, the sadness, the “I can’t do this” overwhelm. If you’re like most of us, you probably yell at it internally. You criticise yourself for having it. You try to shove it into a box and pretend it’s not there.

What if, instead, you held that feeling softly? You don’t have to like it or want it. You just acknowledge it with a gentle inner voice: “Okay. This is here. It’s really uncomfortable. And I’m still here with you.”

Place your hand over your heart, or wrap your arms around yourself. Imagine you’re cradling something small and precious the part of you that’s hurting. You’re not trying to make it go away. You’re just letting it know it’s not alone.

Normalise: “This Tells Me I’m a Normal Human with a Heart”

One of the sneakiest ways we’re unkind to ourselves is by pathologising our own emotions. We think: “I shouldn’t be this anxious.” “I shouldn’t be so sensitive.” “I shouldn’t be struggling so much with something that happens to half the population.”

But here’s a radical reframe : difficult feelings don’t mean you’re broken. They mean you’re a normal human who cares about things. When there’s a gap between what you want and what you’ve got and let’s face it, life these days can create a lot of those gaps these feelings show up. It’s not a flaw. It’s how hearts work.

So the next time you catch yourself thinking “What’s wrong with me?” try gently swapping in: “This feeling tells me I’m a normal human being who has a heart and who cares.”

It’s not about pretending the feeling isn’t painful. It’s about removing the extra layer of suffering the one that comes from telling yourself you shouldn’t be feeling this way at all.