Photo credit: Robin Malmanger

“It is a little embarrassing that, after forty-five years of research and study, the best advice I can give to people is to be a little kinder to each other.” – Aldous Huxley

Ha. I love this. I love the honest admission of a bright, learned man acknowledging the inadequacies of many of the principles we hold as tenets and truth. I also love the admission of the one truly true thing he may have learned. We may not need to know much more than this simple truth to have a pretty good life.

Following a pretty lazy day containing a double-decker breakfast sandwich, leftover tacos, two brief couch naps with golf on TV, and a boat ride with a buddy across choppy waters to flat ones, I look out my big windows at a big blue sky and the sun sinking below an island. I feel some peace and some love and some connection to important things. I’m tired, but breathe easy with the knowledge that kindness is a good path to walk. I breathe easy, because kindness is easy. It’s not difficult at all. Lots of things are hard, but being kind isn’t one of those. And, it’s more powerful and potent than many of the hard things. And, it’s right.

That might be why it’s easy. Right things are always easier than not-right things. That’s how we can tell what’s right. If something is hard or causes us pain or turmoil or confusion or frustration, it may simply just not be right. And, this is good to know, and it’s not mean. It’s kind to know what’s right and what isn’t. At least, I think so.

With warm feet and some salt on my skin, I prepare to eat a cheeseburger with bacon and chips. I sit feeling kind and it’s nice. And, it’s an easy way to feel, and I think it holds love. That’s why I trust that being a little more kind to people is good advice to take. Including ourselves in this kindness is probably good advice, too.

Dave Markwell is a life-long Des Moines liver and lover. Former owner of Waterland CrossFit and the Waterland Arcade, Dave is now using his unique story-telling voice to help small businesses tell a better story, and his love for people to help folks live bigger and better lives.