This week temperatures have soared in LA. Living without AC and sweltering my way through nights and days as I record an audio book in a studio in the Valley without AC or even a fan (too noisy) I have been fractious. I am also in a wild work period without a moment to spare for myself and have noticed that as a result I have little reserves for kindness. It is easier to snap. Its easier to react.

This morning a woman crashed into a parked car beneath my balcony. I peered out to check it wasn’t my car that she had smashed when all of a sudden another one of my neighbors barreled out of her house and asked what car had been hit. A man was already inspecting the damage to his car, which was one of the cars that the woman had rammed. When my neighbor realized her cars were OK she said great as long as my car wasn’t smashed, turned on her heel and marched back inside. Not a spare moment of thought to the man whose car had been hit.

It takes strength, fortitude and peace (and a good nights sleep in my case) to be optimum in my life. Without a balance I can be pushed like my neighbor to only react when something directly affects me.

Testing times when headlines scream of more attacks daily and rising political upsets which draws me to believe we need to take care of ourselves even more so that we can react with kindness and not in a teetering on the brink, blood boiling over way when we hit bumps in our cars or on our roads.

Tags: Kindness, Mhairi Morrison, strength, The bead movement