How Cinderella Made Me Realize I Wasn’t Kind Enough

Has anyone ever asked you how to be kind? I mean, have you ever really stopped and thought about the kind things you do? Recently at the D23 EXPO I was privileged to be among twenty-four amazing mom bloggers who, along with myself, were invited by Disney to the Cinderella DVD / Blu-ray release dinner at the exquisite Carthay Circle Restaurant at California Adventure. The release dinner was in honor of Cinderella’s “One Million Words of Kindness” campaign which launched that day and was designed to encourage fans to pledge commitment to be courageous and kind in the hopes of achieving “A Million Words of Kindness” in time for World Kindness Day on November 13^th, 2015.

Enjoying an amazing dinner with these awesome moms.

I was given this adorable necklace at the dinner which you can get too! It is only $8.99 when you buy Cinderella on Blu-ray, DVD or Digital HD on Disney Movies Anywhere, plus $2.95 S&P. (valid 9/15/15 – 12/22/15). I’m personally not wearing it because I want it to last forever, so it’s found a forever home on my desk shelf. Just looking at it reminds me to #bekind!

A special gift from Disney and you can get it too!

I have to say when I heard about the One Million Words of Kindness campaign I thought it was so cool, and an absolute perfect fit for the Cinderella 2015 in home release.

Cinderella’s in home release is September 15, 2015

 For more information, visit here  

Disney Lily James as Ella

Where there is kindness, there is goodness; and where there is goodness, there is magic.”

-Ella’s Mother, Cinderella

I am so proud to announce, Disney dubbed us all their Ambassadors of Kindness as part of their campaign that night. We were among the first people to share our words of kindness (which you can also do here) on their really cool website. The site features an interactive Cinderella spinning from rags to ball gown as you scroll down the page. Your kind words and name will then appear on the site’s interactive “Kindness Wall!

You can also share the kindness with #Cinderella #BeKind @CinderellaMovie

Being an Ambassador of Kindness got me thinking…

We were all asked to share our kind words to the site during dinner. This got me thinking about the kind things I had done recently. I recalled that as a brand my son and I volunteer our time locally to a canine therapy ranch. There we help socialize dogs so they can be approved to go into hospitals and cheer up sick patients. We do this once a month to give back to the universe the best we can. Yet for some reason I still wondered,

Does this make me kind? I mean really, it is even close to enough“

Then I realized, maybe I’m not kind. Then I panicked and wondered, am I setting the right example for my son? I honestly don’t know why I struggled so hard with the thought, but it really bothered me. I couldn’t recall doing kind things regularly outside of normal mother stuff and common courtesies.

Am I just too busy to stop and remember to ‘be kind’?”

(disney) Ella being kind to animals.

So I decided to do something kind every single day leading to this article.

I made a mental note to be more aware of my surroundings, to offer help to others in need and to set time aside to give back. I realized that being kind isn’t always about how much time I can spare once a month, or how much money I can donate, it’s about how much joy I can bring to someone’s life. It’s about leaving a footprint in someone’s day with a smile or laughter. But most importantly it’s about inspiring others to be kind. Everyday.

We are all just people doing what we do to get through our days. No matter how incredible or less fortunate our lives are, everybody needs to experience the power of kindness.

It’s not everyday you get to say that you were dubbed a Cinderella Ambassador of Kindness by Disney. I’ve made a commitment to be kind and I hope you can do the same. Not just once in awhile, every day. If we all try to infect people with kindness, you never know, the world could just end up a more magical place.

If you missed the movie in March check out the trailer here:

Have you been kind lately? Please share your encouraging words of kindness here.

While Disney sent me on an all expenses paid trip to the D23 EXPO, it in no way shapes my opinions in this post… We should all be kind.