You go through a difficult time and someone offers to bring you a meal or pick up your kids. What do you say?

I think our natural instinct is to say no, right? We tell people verbally or through our actions that we’re okay, we’ve got this covered, we can do it ourselves.

But what if their offer of kindness isn’t about you? What if it’s about them?

Tammy Joy Lane has battled depression and suicidal tendencies for years. She’s breathtakingly honest and authentic in sharing her heart. Guess what she says helps her on those days she thinks living is just too hard?

Kindness.

She encourages people to say yes to kindness by reminding them that the act of kindness being offered sometimes stems from a person’s need to get out of their own head. When we say no to the offered kindness, we may be throwing yet another rejection into a depressed person’s face.

The act of kindness may not be about us, it might be about them.

I talked with Tammy on Episode 14 of The Kindness Podcast about saying yes to kindness and about her innovative idea to pre-appreciate the people who serve us.

You can listen to The Kindness Podcast on itunes, google play or NPR.

Connect with Tammy through her website, YesToKindness.com.