Gentleness, Kindness, & Resistance

Life experiences and the systems that impact and create those experiences can make us feel like we don’t deserve gentleness and kindness. Especially for Black people, this country is intentionally cruel. So, this is a reminder that gentleness and kindness are birthrights; they are yours to have, mine to have, they are resistance.

Let’s define gentleness, kindness, and resistance so that we can rise in the essence of what the words suggest in action. The following definitions are from Webster’s dictionary:

• Gentleness derives from the word gentle. Gentle means free from harshness, sternness, or violence.
• Kindness derives from the word kind. Kind means having a sympathetic or helpful nature, affectionate, or loving.
• Resistance derives from the word resist. Resist means to exert force in opposition, to counteract or defeat, to withstand the force or effect.

If gentleness and kindness are birthrights, it is essential to acknowledge spaces where we can give ourselves and others gentle and kind gestures, grace, and gratitude. Further, as a person of color in the United States, we must also resist the urge to receive or internalize the harshness, sternness, and lack of compassion white supremacy employs; it is oppressive, it is harmful. People of color are light and love, worthy and deserving. So, lean into ways of gentleness, kindness, and resistance as a way of leaning into your most authentic self. Start by reciting the following affirmations. Let’s affirm together, ready?

  I deserve gentleness and kindness

              I am worthy of gentleness and kindness

              I am gentle

              I am kind

That’s it! You got it, feel free to read it again for good measure! The more the affirmations are recited, the more they are believed. Belief is essential because confidence in thoughts increases practice in everyday life. Practice increases gentleness and kindness, leading to resistance of people, places, and systems of oppression that do not serve the highest good. Affirmations are like soul food, so good and so nurturing.

May this blog serve as me standing in the gap, sprinkling gentleness and kindness for you, for me, for our bloodlines! We deserve this and we will have it in any space that I create, period.

Light & Love,

Kenya