Sept. 14, 2026
The Courage to Choose Kindness
What happens in those few seconds between feeling a nudge to do something kind—and deciding whether or not to act on it?
This week on KindCast, I’m exploring an idea from Leadership and Self-Deception about the stories we tell ourselves when we ignore those little internal pulls to help, encourage, connect, or show up for someone.
Then I’m sharing the story from @blankblove on Instagram, who has learned to follow those whispers even when they lead him straight outside his comfort zone.
His story got me thinking about how kindness sometimes asks us to move through our own fear, awkwardness, or insecurity—and how doing that might not only impact someone else, but help us become more of the people we actually want to be.
This week’s KindCast challenge is simple:
Follow one nudge.
See where it takes you.
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Welcome to Comcast.
I'm your host Chaz Smith here with a little good for your day.
So let's see, we've been on this journey together for 11 weeks now.
And I was on it for a few extra weeks while I was out gathering stories, looking for good, and getting everything ready for launch day.
0:31
And as I continue down this path, I feel more and more inspired to truly be someone who is kind.
Not just nice, but kind because there's a difference.
And I find myself asking almost every day what are ways I can show up in my life more kindly?
0:49
What are some fun little kindness challenges that I could partake in?
What are non monetary ways I could engage in acts of kindness in the community?
I even asked Chat GPT to make me a 30 day kindness challenge where every day I commit to a different act of kindness that doesn't cost a thing.
1:09
And something really interesting happened when I started reading through this challenge.
Almost everything on the list sounded fun and sweet, but I also noticed a little angst staring up inside of me.
Some of the suggestions felt so outside my comfort zone.
1:27
Simple things like complimenting a stranger on the street or encouraging someone running past me and telling them they're doing a great job.
I immediately felt this old shy story creeping in, this fear of embarrassment or the feeling of a fear of being rejected.
1:47
The Oh my God, what if they think I'm strange thoughts ruminating through my mind.
And so this got me thinking, simmering, brainstorming back to how many times in my life that I felt that pole on my heartstring to act in kindness.
2:07
And then I withdrew for one reason or another and ignored the pole.
And then that kind of reminded me of this amazing book that I read more than once because it's that good.
It's called Leadership and Self Deception by the Arbinger Institute.
2:25
They also wrote The Anatomy of Peace, which is amazing too.
Highly recommend both.
But anyhow, in Leadership and Self Deception, they talk about something called Being in the Box.
And in really simple terms, sometimes we feel like we should do something for another person, but we don't.
2:44
And once we ignore that feeling, our mind starts coming up with reasons to justify why we didn't do the thing.
The initial moment might be a tiny feeling, a gentle nudge, a gentle pull on the heart string, which I always like to think of as those soft whispers from the soul.
3:06
And we either act on it or we don't.
And in this book, when we feel that we should do something for someone and choose not to, they call that self betrayal.
That self betrayal is what comes with all the justification our mind starts to do.
3:26
And this happens everywhere.
It happens in our personal lives, at home, at work, and out in the world with complete strangers.
Here's a really simple example.
Maybe you are walking in a parking lot and you see an elderly person struggling to load groceries in their car.
You immediately get this little nudge.
3:43
Maybe I should go help.
But instead you just keep walking and immediately your mind starts going.
Well, they're probably fine.
You know they didn't ask for my help.
I don't want to assume someone else will probably stop and help them.
It's no big deal.
Or the best one, I'm just really in a hurry.
3:59
I didn't really have time, and now we've just put ourselves in the box.
We see an opportunity to lend a helping hand.
We feel the nudge, we don't follow it, and we start creating reasons to justify why.
Once I started reflecting on this, I could imagine hundreds, maybe thousands of moments in my own life where I've done this.
4:22
And I'm not saying we have to act on every single nudge we ever get, but I can't help wondering where might the journey take us if we actually started acting on more of the nudges than not?
And I don't mean just with strangers.
4:38
I mean with everyone around us in all the aspects of our lives.
What happens if we start choosing the action that our soul is whispering instead of backing down because of our fears and insecurities?
I mean, obviously more people will get to experience our kindness, and that alone makes the world a little better.
4:56
But there's another piece of this that feels really big to me.
If I'm following those nudges and not constantly letting fear win, then over time, aren't I also becoming more aligned with my true, authentic self?
Becoming more of the person I actually want to be?
5:13
And can't I make a bigger impact on my own personal growth and healing journey that way?
And who doesn't want to feel proud of who they are?
Who doesn't want to live a life that feels more aligned with their truth?
To be able to move through some of our fears and insecurities and take action to to feel good about it.
5:35
So anyways, I'm rambling.
I think you get the point.
And all of that rings me to today's story, which is going to look a little different.
There's a young gentleman I follow on Instagram and I admire him.
I love what he's doing in this world and the way he's able to show up.
5:52
He his Instagram handle is BLAN KB Love So Blank B Love.
And what he does is pretty simple.
He shows up at a trailhead at Griffith Park in LA with some music, some props, and himself fully open and ready to give, receive and hold space.
6:11
And he dances, moves around freely.
He's happy, he's expressive, and he invites complete strangers to come be with him, to dance, to play, to move, to express themselves, to let loose and just be free for a minute.
From the videos, it looks like he often has headphones for people so they can listen to the music and dance along with him.
6:29
And every time I see these videos, I'm always in awe.
There's this part of me that thinks, wow, I wish I could do something like that.
And so one day I asked him, what made you decide to do this?
And his answer was simple.
He said, I follow my heart.
I trust the whispers, the bread crumbs.
6:45
There's a thread of infinite wisdom and inspiration that life offers in all moments.
And I just listen.
Of course, it wasn't always easy.
He said at first, it took him tremendous courage.
And now he sees it.
Just wondrously fun, but getting there was a journey.
7:03
He tells me how over the years he had a lot of inspired ideas and nudges, but it often took him time to actually act on them.
Before his Be with Me, he created an experience called Gays with Me and for him that brought up a lot of fears, especially around making content and being seen.
7:20
But once he finally sat down and did it, he had these amazing interactions and insights with people and that experience inspired him to start acting on more of his ideas.
And even after he had the idea for Be With Me, it did take him some time to start it.
7:37
But now he loves it and other people love it too.
Honestly, it might not sound like much as I'm describing it, but when you go to Instagram and you watch the videos, you will understand.
He creates this beautiful space where complete strangers get to let their guard down for a minute and just be.
7:56
And those moments only exist because he was willing to move through his own discomfort and act on that little nudge.
He told me that at some point in his journey he realized if you stop acting on the inspiration, life will stop feeding it to you.
8:13
He said something else I loved too.
He said sometimes we are meeting at the edges of our own nervous system and judgments that we didn't even know were there.
But that action can be a wonderful Liberator.
In my experience, those were his words.
8:31
And that brings me all the way back to where we started today.
Sometimes kindness is holding a door for someone.
Sometimes it's giving a compliment to a stranger, even if you feel a little awkward.
And sometimes kindness asks us to step right up to the edge of our own comfort zone so that we can create a space where somebody else gets to feel a little more free, a little more connected, or a little more themselves.
9:01
And I love that so much.
So I think our kind cast challenge this week is really simple.
Follow one nudge, just one.
When you feel that little tug on your heart string to say something, help someone, encourage someone, reach out or do something kind, and then you notice all the reasons why you shouldn't see what happens if just once you do it anyways.
9:26
Maybe nothing huge happens.
Or maybe you create a moment for someone that never would have existed if you stayed inside that little box.
And maybe in the process, you step a little closer to becoming the person you want to be.
So keep your eyes open for all those little nudges this week.
9:44
Trust the whisper and go create some good.
And I'll be tuning in with you next week on Kind Cast.
Cheers.