The song says “What the world needs now is love, sweet love.”

I would beg to differ. What the world needs now is kindness. Until we master the art of being kind to self and others we are not going to stand in love. Kindness is such an old fashioned word. We recently took a Magnetic Joy group to New Zealand and visited Tamaki Village, which is a Maori cultural village.

Here we were met with kindness. We were treated to a show around the Maori culture – and to dinner, invited to participate in some of their rituals and games and generally had a lot of fun. Of course it was a commercial enterprise. After all, they have to earn a living too. And yet, their joy in being together creating this, the way they took time to ensure all were taken care of and that no-one was left out or left behind was beautiful.

Our driver was amazing. He managed to greet everyone on the bus in their native tongue, not his and that is not often seen. It was obvious that he loved what he was doing and tried to make it as much fun as possible.

When Tony had a brain tumour last October, we were surrounded by the kindness of friends family and strangers alike. I will never forget that.

Is this the experience you offer to those who connect to your life? Are you kind to yourself? Find joy in all you can be? Share that joy with friends, family and strangers?