Graduation is well behind us. Everyone is trying to figure out how to accomplish all those special things that we couldn’t do during the school year and can only attempt during summer break. At the risk of loading you down with more than you can possibly handle, here’s a suggestion for one more thing to practice this summer: err in the direction of kindness.

This suggestion, which comes from the graduation (convocation?) speech that George Saunders delivered to the Class of 2013 at Syracuse University, can be applied in many ways. Am I being kind to others? Am I being kind to myself? What does a slight shift towards kindness require of me?

Many folks tell me that they would like to meditate, but don’t have the time for it. Sometimes I reply that there isn’t a required minimum time that they need to spend in meditation, that even a little quiet time might be helpful, but mostly I don’t say anything. I realize that people really do lead busy lives and silence, non-doing, sitting, even for a few minutes, feels like a hard thing to take up. We are programmed to do. If we not-do, we think we will fall behind.

But perhaps there is a small opportunity here? What if I told you that 2 minutes of not-doing, just watching the way you breathe and listening to the sounds all around you, might be an act of self-kindness? That it might be one small way in which you can ‘err in the direction of kindness’ towards yourself? Would you be willing to do that much for yourself?