Kindness Matters

My Maxim for this Year

This year, I have chosen a guiding phrase—a quiet compass to help me navigate both ordinary days and unexpected storms. The words that keep returning to me again and again are simple yet powerful: Kindness Matters.

Not kindness as a vague idea or a pleasant afterthought, but kindness as an intentional practice. A way of living. A choice.

In a world that often rewards speed over care, volume over listening, and judgment over understanding, kindness can feel almost rebellious. Yet that is precisely why it matters so much. Kindness grounds us. It softens sharp edges. It reminds us that every person we encounter is carrying a story we cannot see.

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What Kindness Matters Means to Me

For me, this maxim is a reminder that words matter, tone matters, pauses matter. How we respond—to success, to frustration, to people who differ from us—matters. Kindness does not mean weakness or silence in the face of wrong. Rather, it means choosing compassion even when it is easier not to.

Kindness is strength with a gentle voice.

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Simple Ways to Live this Maxim

Living out Kindness Matters does not require grand gestures. Most often, it reveals itself in small, daily choices:

• Speak gently, especially when emotions run high. Words linger longer than we realize.
• Listen fully, without planning a response while someone else is still speaking.
• Assume good intent, even when misunderstandings arise.
• Extend grace—to others, and just as importantly, to yourself.
• Offer encouragement freely, whether through a note, a message, or a sincere compliment.
• Pause before reacting, allowing kindness to guide the moment instead of impulse.

Even silence, when chosen thoughtfully, can be an act of kindness.

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Why Kindness Matters—Now More Than Ever

Kindness creates ripples. One small act can ease a burden, mend a fragile moment, or change the course of someone’s day. We may never know the full impact of our kindness, and that is part of its quiet beauty.

As a writer, I believe stories shape hearts. As a human being, I believe kindness shapes the world. When we lead with kindness, we make room for healing, connection, and hope. We remind one another that dignity and compassion are not optional extras; they are essential.

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A Kindness Challenge for the Year

I offer you a gentle challenge—one that requires no special tools, no extra hours in the day, and no perfection.

For the next week (or month, or even the entire year), choose one intentional act of kindness each day.

It does not have to be big. In fact, the smaller and more consistent, the better. For example…

• Smile at a stranger and mean it.
• Text a message of appreciation.
• Let someone go first—on the road, in line, or in conversation.
• Speak kindly about someone who is not present.
• Forgive a small offense and release it quietly.
• Offer yourself patience on a day you fall short.

At the end of each day, pause for a moment and reflect: Where did kindness show up today? Where did I choose it? How did it make a difference?

You may be surprised to discover that kindness not only changes the atmosphere around you—it changes you. It softens the heart, steadies the mind, and reminds us of our shared humanity. If enough of us take up this challenge, even imperfectly, the world will become a little warmer, a little safer, and a little more hopeful. And that, I believe, is reason enough to begin.

Kindness matters. Live like it does.

—Richelle E. Goodrich

8 Truths About Change

       Last month I decided to take more time from my busy schedule and devote it to working on certain things I want to improve in my personal life. How is it going, you ask? Slower than I had hoped and yet I do see real progress being made. While concentrating more intently this past month on purposeful change, I have learned a few valuable lessons. Isn't that how it usually goes? I thought I would share these truths; you may find them helpful and enlightening:

1) The worst day is always the first day. Changing a habit or instigating something new is toughest at the start. Through repetition, however, new habits grow. They are strengthened with familiarity.

2) Friends make everything easier. If you want to succeed at a challenge, involve your friends. They have an amazing capacity to lighten physical, emotional, and mental burdens by simply being there.

3) Know what your objective is. Anything that does not contribute to that objective is unnecessary―let those things go.

4) Patience is not only a virtue, it is power, it is influence, it is the richest soil for personal growth.

5) Success is the result of moving forward. Concentrate on that fact, regardless of how slow or fast, how poorly or well things seem to be going. If you are moving forward, you are succeeding.

6) Believing in yourself is enough, but it sure is nice when another's kind words of encouragement kiss your ear. There is genuine strength in verbal expressions of support.

7) Laughing at yourself does more to heal the heart and mind than any medicine. Discouragement and despair cower under a good dose of laughter.

8) It is okay to alter your original plans. To try means to learn. To learn means to grow. To grow means to change.

       I plan to keep at it this month and the next, and the next, and so forth. Time is a critical part of the equation when it comes to change and improvement. Wish me luck on my goals. Best of luck on your own personal goals as well. Remember, never give up!

The Month of May —The Month of Me

I was thinking back over the past few months, savoring a sweet mix of relief, joy, and fulfillment at having finally published an entire young adult series. On April 26th, the last book in my Harrowbethian Saga was released. Not only did I write and edit this entire six-book adventure, I illustrated the covers and self-published the crazy story. It was more than I initially set out to do. Now that it's finished, I can hardly stop gazing at the completed saga sitting on my bookshelf. Who knew I had it in me to do something this big? 

Honestly, if you had suggested that I attempt such a feat when I first set out to write a single book, I would have crinkled my nose and thought you were signing me up for a climbing hike where the goal was to reach the end of a rainbow. Yet here I am, basking under the colorful lights where an illusive rainbow has touched ground in my life. An enormous sense of satisfaction comes from accomplishing something so challenging. This truth got me thinking today.

There are other things I would love to accomplish. There are personal attributes I would like to improve upon, goals I long to finally reach, and certain wishes I hope to someday see come true. Most of these goals involve only me, my dreams. I have set them aside numerous times for the sake of priorities. They call this sort of patient procrastination a form of selflessness. They call it being mature and responsible. I don't regret the sacrifices I have made for the benefit of worthwhile people and causes, but I am growing older and feel my determination increasing with age. With my boys reaching adulthood, I find I have greater amounts of time to myself—as well as less time left on this planet—which makes me think that now is when I can and should invest in my own dreams. 

Silly thing—I was thinking about how tomorrow is the month of May, a new month, a new beginning, another stretch of springtime where many things are born and blossoming and sprouting from seed. I had the thought that this should be my month to concentrate on improving certain attributes about myself. Things I want to improve. It should be the month of me. Yes, a month all about me. Not in a selfish, irresponsible, ignore-the-needs-of-others sort of way, but in a growing, developing, mending, and moving-closer-in-line-with-the-person-I-visualize-myself-to-be sort of way. It is possible and it is productive to concentrate on yourself unselfishly—as paradoxical as it sounds. 


So this is my goal. The month of May will be the month of Me. I expect great things from myself. The way I see it, any lady who can write an entire six-book, young adult series must have some magic and muchness in her. Wish me luck. I have things to do.