“Shall we make a new rule of life…always try to be a little kinder than necessary?”
—J. M. Barrie in The Little White Bird
Meet this month’s RichmondMom with a Mission: Patience Salgado, a.k.a. Kindness Girl!
RichmondMom Cheryl:
Tell us about how you became Kindness Girl.
Kindness Girl Patience
Whew, that is a long story because I have been [Kindness Girl] my whole life. I guess the very short version is I wrote a private blog about my family and our kindness adventures that grew a following and turned me into a kindness worker.
What was the catalyst that made you decide YOU personally needed to take action?
I’m not sure there was a catalyst per se, it was just a way to breathe actually. I was really sensitive and felt ALL the feelings, ALL the time, for the world…still do! I love humanity so very much and that can be exhausting if you don’t know yourself or how to manage your love.
Kindness is a way of life that allows people to both step in and outside of themselves at the same time. I could see the power of it everywhere I went. Turning that over and trying to see from all different angles gave me something to do with all I was holding. It also taught me how much I need it myself.
Please tell us a bit about what you do as Kindness Girl…
Hmmm, I do a little bit of everything. I am an empath, a writer, a photographer, an artist, a speaker, a mom and partner…but mostly it is about human connection.
What has been accomplished so far?
Oh, wow, lots of kindness missions, community organizing, national kindness campaigns and public art projects, but also lots of evolving and growing personally.
What makes you proudest personally about your achievements?
I don’t really like to look at my work as steps of achievements or accomplishments, I get all up in my “is it enough?!” head. It feels more about the process and ways I am unfolding as a person.
Kindness has me, like a call over my life. Some days I wake up and rock it so hard, other days I fail it miserably, but the call is always there. This is strangely comforting to me because I will fail my call but it is so much bigger than me. I try to remind myself of this on the days I am obsessing over my own part or comparing and feeling so very vulnerable.
I am proud of my courage to keep trying to love my humanity (and others’), and to find all the ways it connects us to each other.
What’s next on-deck?
There are quite a few things floating around about women and public art, writing a book and storytelling in the works, but mostly I am taking care of myself and my family at the moment.
We are in a non-auto pilot phase in our family right now. Have you ever been in that phase? A needy time? Everyone is in some kind of transition or learning curve and it feels like we all really need each other. I both love and am mildly tortured by this at any given moment, but it feels very right.
How can others get involved?
Start yourself! The beauty of kindness is anyone can practice anywhere, anytime. Just try to think of the most human place or part of you, then do something. If you need to hear things will be okay, then write it on a post-it and put it in a place where you think no kindness exists, because then it will.
Need a cup of coffee? Buy one for yourself and someone else. Need to say you’re sorry for yelling at your kid because you are exhausted? Do that, drive to school, pull her out of class and tell her. (By the way, I have done this. Ugh.)
Kindness can be big or small. It isn’t about being good or nice. While nice is societal or polite, kindness is about empathy and compassion; it makes us truly connected and part of a human family.
How does your family feel about what you are doing?
One of my biggest fears is that my kids will grow up and be like, “Kindness ruined my life! My mom was obsessed with this thing and never had time for us!”
They laugh when I tell them this but there have been crazy periods where all they ate was pizza and watched 57,000 hours of TV so I could pull a project off. I was grouchy and stressed.
On second thought, they probably LOVE kindness (minus the kindness grouch). Ha!
Seriously though, I don’t think they really think about it so much actually. It’s more of a way of life over here. Some kids have teachers, doctors or toll collectors for parents, they have a mom who is a kindness worker. I’m not sure they have connected that it is alternative or different in any way yet.
My partner and husband, Jorge, has been a calm and loving force in my life and work. He can handle me and my passion. He is patient, kind and believes in it. I am so grateful.
Please feel free to share additional info you’d like to share with the RichmondMom readership!
If you think we should be friends, we probably should be! You can find me on
Facebook: Patience Salgado
Twitter: @kindnessgirl
Instagram: @kindnessgirl
Patience, thank you so much for your commitment to both expressing and inspiring kindness…and for being a RichmondMom with a mission!
