“Kindness is the language which the deaf can hear and the blind can see.”
~ Mark Twain
Life happens when you are making plans.
Tonight I’m writing this post from my dad’s hospital room. I had actually started a different post for Wise At Work earlier this week. But today rolled out on its own accord without asking me about my work plans.
I’m right where I’m supposed to be. And knowing that this is just a temporary health setback for my dad, I am at ease. And happy to serve as pillow adjuster, ice cream server, and health advocate. I feel grateful to be with him.
My dad and I live about 1200 miles apart. Thus, I have never been in the hospital where he is staying. I can use the word “staying” because they actually have “room service” here — where you custom-order your food, wait 15 minutes, and voilé– a tasty meal. (Move over, Dad – I’m digging your Internet connectivity too.)
Taking Stock
As you might suspect as a workplace consultant and program evaluator, I am in continual assessment of organizations, their systems, cultures, and human wholeness. Call it my aversive personality type transformed into a legitimate profession.
And so here at the hospital, I am taking stock.
Fortunately, my lens is pretty neutral for medical centers. I hold no grudges. I feel comfortable here. As an occupational therapist, I’ve spent many hours in the nooks, crannies, and offices of hospitals.
But this one in the heartland of America caught my attention – in a subtle way.
The Unmistakable, Radiating Quality
If I equated this hospital to human wholeness – the physical plant would be the body. The systems would be the mind. The organizational culture, the spirit. And the energy of the staff, the emotions. Body, mind, spirit, emotions whirring and integrated.
It’s the last piece, the energy of the staff, that’s hooked my viscera in this hospital. Everywhere I go in this place – the patient floors, ER, cafeteria, family room – it hovers. Everyone I speak with, it glows gently out. I’ve been in a lot of hospitals but this is absolutely different.
I’m not sure how to describe it. It’s authentic, a step beyond the norm, but not gushing. It’s a no-rush zone but ticks through tasks efficiently. It’s human attentiveness without getting creepy or invasive.
It’s so noticeable, yet so intangible. We can’t touch it. See it. Or hear it. But feel it, we do. And it feels soft, light, wholesome, and good.
Call it the energy of genuine kindness.
A Lasting and Powerful Impression
Walking through the hallways of this hospital, I am reminded of the lasting impression that each of us makes on one another. How each of us contributes to one another at work, and in other places of our lives.
Even though we may have a smart phone or old-fashioned notebook with a list of to-do’s a kilometer long, rarely is this list as important as our capacity to envelop genuine kindness in our every day life. This caring patience creates a power of its own and cascades.
It took my dad a hospital stay for me to rekindle the connection with strong, authentic kindness in a workplace. And now I am reminded to keep passing it on every day.
How will you bring your kindness to the workplace today? Is there someone in need of a caring word, a gentle act? And have any acts of kindness caught you off guard this week like it did me?
This day, as always, may you be wise at work.
