Welcome to episode 280 of Live Happy Now.

This is Paula Phelps, and this week we're going to learn how we can all become a little bit kinder.

There's no question that our world needs more kindness right now, which is why this week we're talking to Houston Craft, author of the new book, Deep Kindness, a revolutionary guide for the way we think,

talk, and act in kindness. He's here today to talk about the gap between our belief in kindness

and our ability to practice it. He'll also tell us what new skills we need to acquire to better

practice kindness and what we can do to turn our intentions into actions.

Houston, welcome to Live Happy Now.

Thanks, Paula.

Excited to be here.

You're talking about a topic that I don't think we can get enough of, especially right now,

and that is kindness.

So in reading your book, you have been interested in kindness for a long time,

and you have a great story that led you to that. Can you tell us a little bit about how you got on this path?

Yeah. You know, I feel lucky. I was introduced to kindness from a pretty young age.

Had two amazing parents who were super supportive and some incredible educators in my life who have

redirected the trajectory of my existence. But one of the more profound, I suppose, moments that

led me down this path of deep kindness as the book talks about was early on in my speaking

career. I was on a plane and I met this woman who wanted to have a conversation

in spite of all the signs I gave her that I didn't. And to make semi-long story a little bit shorter,

she basically shared with me when I shared with her that I worked in schools, I talked about

kindness for my job. She made it very evident that she believed kindness was incredibly

important. And without me prompting proof, she gave me some that she had been on an airplane

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