Empowerment Plan

An assignment to design something to fill actual needs.

A coat becomes a sleeping bag.

A sleeping bag inspires a reaction.

A reaction makes the sleeping bags into a whole system to help women in shelters become skilled workers to make more coat/sleeping bags to help others who are in a position they know far too well and to help these female workers get a leg up in the world and start anew.

GOOD ON YOU, VERONIKA!

Way to make a difference

not only with your own ingenuity, but also by listening to the needs of others in order to expand that invention into a whole new level of awesome!

#WomenInspire

For those afraid that children have lost the meaning of the holidays...

...Don't worry:  they haven't.

The folks at IKEA asked a bunch of kids to write letters to Santa asking what they wanted for Christmas.  THEN they asked the same kids to write letters to their parents.  THEN they asked which letter they would send, if they only got to choose one.

This is what happened:

They haven't lost the true meaning of Christmas, have you?

*Family.  Time.  Love.*

Happy Holidays Everyone!

Amidst Tragedy, Peace is Still the Option

There is turmoil in this world.  It has existed, it does exist, and if we do not choose to be positive and take the actions that we can in peaceful ways to bring enlightenment, education, and knowledge to everyone we encounter, then we are abusing the gift we are given every day which allows us to do so and turmoil will continue to exist.

Peace is a smile or a helping hand.  It is a silent protest for human rights.  It is a somber ceremony of light to remember lost lives and to hope for better days to come.  Peace is love.  Love yourself, love your neighbor, love your enemy, whomever he or she may be.

Love is the answer for every question.  Why?  Because love is the greatest thing you can give to someone.  It comes in all levels.  It comes from all animals on this Earth in some form or another.  It comes in all shapes and sizes and ways.  It comes in small gestures and in grand designs.  It comes in bits and spurts, and all at once.  Love is peace, because when we show love for others, and when we receive love from others, we have no choice but to love them in return and to wish them well.  Loving others and receiving love from others gives peace to us all.

So..."peace be with you."  "LOVE be with you."  

Share it with the world.  And let there be peace.

Holiday Cartoons Teach the Best Lessons...

"It came without ribbons.  It came without tags.  

It came without packages, boxes, or bags.  

Maybe Christmas doesn't come from a store.  

Maybe Christmas, means a little bit more." 

-How the Grinch Stole Christmas

Lessons from Rudolph

Have a laugh, but remember the lesson!

Happy New Beginnings to All!

This post was born from the Google recap of 2014.  Love it or hate it, it is the brief history of 365 days on this planet.  It is the conglomerate of anyone with internet access and a google search bar.  It is what our internet lives have emerged as...

The end of one year brings the beginning of another.  Some would find this monotonous...trivial, maybe.  Some would find it pointless.  Why do we bother marking a rotation of the sun?  Maybe it's to remind us that we aren't the center.  Maybe it's to remind us that we are alive.  Maybe it's to remind us that time is real and fake.  That in the triviality of our lives, we can still find meaning and hope.

I love the end of the year.  It brings excitement.  It brings joy and celebration and happiness for what is coming.  I hope to be able to carry these emotions with me through all days but, when I've reached the point where I almost almost empty of them, I can look forward again, to the coming of another start.  A new year, a new day, a new hour.  There is newness and excitement in every moment, if we choose that perspective.  It's all about perspective really.  The Chinese started the new year months ago...we could choose to "start over" any time we want.

I think there is a great feeling of community and sharing that occurs during the start of the calendar year that we all celebrate together as human beings.  The beauty that comes with a celebration around the globe for 24 hours of "new beginnings" as midnight creeps across the planet is not only fascinating, but also liberating, not only breathtaking, but binding.  We are human.  We are ending and beginning all at once and all at different moments.  We are global.  We are not the center of anything.  We are tiny specks that exist for small moments in the greater existence of the universe, and we celebrate THAT.

Let's celebrate the lists of things that we care about and the lists of things that we hope for and the list of things we've accomplished.  Let's celebrate lists!  I love lists!  I love the lists that come out at the end of the year to review what we've experienced, for better or for worse.  To review what we have come through and enjoyed and survived gives us fuel to go forward.  You can look back and still choose to move forward.  That's the end of the year.  That's the beginning of the year.  THAT is the grand celebration of life!  So celebrate life with all of the fervor you can muster, this year, this month, this week, this moment...because life is precious.  Humanity and our planet are precious.

Our ability to simultaneously stop and start, die and live, end and begin is a miracle that we are privy to whenever we so choose.  So cast aside your worries and your negative experiences as rules, and view them instead as lessons for the future.  Let your love and hopes burst to the front of the pack and let your mind be at ease knowing that you are beginning something fresh and new.

If you let your life be trivial, you've forgotten that the beauty is in the details.

Happy new beginnings to all!

When speech is gone, music speaks.

When speech is gone, music speaks.

Religion is about teachings.  Being religious, is about connecting with people in positivity and hope.

Naomi Feil is a Jewish woman who uses music to communicate with Alzheimer's patients.  In this video, she sings Christian hymns to connect to one of her patients who is an at advanced stage of Alzheimer's that has rendered her mute for years...except when she feels safe and connected with others as you can see in this video.  This is what Naomi calls "the breakthrough."  

What a beautiful light of hope this woman is, not only for families that struggle with Alzheimer's in their own relationships, but also for Alzheimer's patients, who must suffer a great deal as they lose their memories and their physical abilities with the progression of the disease.  She is also a great example of a religious person whom we should seek to emulate, using the positive teachings that we have learned in order to create a better world for ALL people, no matter THEIR religious teachings being different from our own.  

This left me breathless.  Thank you for being the light in the darkness, Naomi.  Just beautiful!

Gratefulness...Pass it on.

A dad was worried about his kids being too spoiled.  He gave them early Christmas gifts after asking what they wanted most.  The gifts are far from what they asked for, but they still had excellent reactions.

A gift, is a gift, no matter how small.

Gratefulness...pass it on!

Amma must read my blog...

Just kidding...but she DOES know all about being the change.  Soooo...I'll share what she thinks on my blog and YOU can read it, instead :)

Amma

"In today’s world, everyone wants others to change first. It is hard to find people who sincerely feel that they themselves have to undergo a change. Instead of thinking others should change first, each individual should strive to change him- or herself. Unless a transformation takes place in the inner world, things will be more or less the same in the outer world." -Amma

Kids say the darndest things take 267...

Have a laugh by clicking here to see how some students outsmart their teachers...

because laughing is good for you 

(and so is thinking outside of the box)!

-Thank you Tickld for another great one!

Start Off on the Right Foot and Power Through Your Day!

This song ALWAYS empowers me, makes me smile, and gets me going on the right foot.

My Day - Tarrus Riley

Lyrics so you can sing along:

Give thanks for life.

Give thanks for life.

Today mi rise like the sunrise

me bright and me upright;

no one can bruk my vibes.

And me no care who wan' fight

And who wanna' criticize;

I'm on a higher height.

So you can say what you want to

and do what you want to;

It's no concern to me

because me have me own vision

meh deh pon' me own mission

to rule my destiny!

Oh it's my day

to do anything I want to.

It's my time

and I'll use it any way I want to.

It's my life, 

and I'm responsible for every action.

It's all mine:

my day, my time, my life!

I beg you: easy now, gimme some reason now

and don't invade my space.

I'm in a different place, 

a different phase,

moving on my way.

So if you feel like a champion

then nothing can go wrong.

This one is your song.

Put away your troubles.

Put away your worries.

Help me sing along!

Oh it's my day

to do anything I want to.

It's my time

and I'll use it any way I want to.

It's my life, 

and I'm responsible for every action.

It's all mine:

my day, my time, my life!

Oh yes!

Feeling alive!

Feeling a vibe!

And nothing can stop me!

I don't care

what they think

or what they say about me.

Look out world,

Here we come,

Up and running!

And all I'm saying is...

It's my day

to do anything I want to.

It's my time

and I'll use it any way I want to.

It's my life, 

and I'm responsible for every action.

It's all mine:

my day, my time, my life!

Give thanks for life.

Give thanks for life.

Give thanks for life.

Give thanks all my life.

Oh yeah!

Kids know what's up!

So...sports are competitive.
Hockey is often about physically beating on each other.  The other team is the enemy.  End of story.

Life, if about working together.  Life is about pushing each other and helping each other along.  Life is about doing the right thing so that EVERYONE is moving forward.

Sometimes, sports reflect life.  Thank goodness :)

Background:  4 year old little tykes hockey player helps up 3-year old opponent who is having a rough time getting back on her feet, literally.

Let's all scale this up; 

Help someone out who needs to get back on their A-game today!

Don't brace yourself for the world...

Every day when we wake up we can never be sure what awaits us. 
Is it our blessings or our challenges that will meet us that day? 

For me, the past few weeks have been a magnified practice of accepting the unknown. 
On any given morning I don't know if I'll be able to stand when I get out of bed, 
or 
if conversely I'll feel so wonderful I can strap my boots on and head to the mountain. 
Can I give a full day's attention and devotion to work? 
Or will I have trouble just breathing if I'm in the throes of an episode. 
Will I walk away from the latest doctor's appointment with more answers 
or more questions? 
Will I be able to nurture my relationships through this confusing, mysterious process, 
and most importantly 
nurture my relationship with myself? 
What will my yoga practice look like today, 
and what will it look like in the future? 

One day 
when this is a memory, 
I will be able to grow as a practitioner and teacher through this experience 
and share with others what beauty can be found shrouded in complete mystery. 
And there's no reason to fear it. 
Wake up and don't brace for the unknown, open up for it.

-N.I.

If you ever believed that one was not enough...

...then you haven't heard Marie's story.

The last remaining person on Earth (let that sink in) to speak the Native American Wukchumni language was determined not to let it die with her.  She stopped speaking the language when she was a young child at the death of her grandmother.  She re-learned the language when her sister began teaching her children, and when she realized she was the last speaker standing, she dedicated seven years of her life to creating a dictionary of the language.  During that time, Marie began to teach her daughter and her grandson, the latter of which, as you can see in the video, seems to have picked it up quite quickly.  Since the dictionary, the three have spent time doing an audio-catalogue of the dictionary words so that the pronunciation would not be lost and most recently, they began teaching language classes to other members of their community.

One is enough.  Believe.

What are you waiting for?

We are the leaders we have been waiting for.

We are our own worst critics

A recent, beautiful post about two parents that adopted two children and who were having a terrible time buying groceries, sparked the writing of this post:

We are too self-critical.  

I bet this statement is true for nearly all human beings.

We worry about how we look or what other people think of how we look.  We worry about our financial situations or what others think of our financial situations.  We worry about our lives and how we are living them, and how OTHER people see and think of our lives and how we live them.  And you know what?  I think most everyone else is so busy with his or her own life that he or she really isn't even interested in judging the rest of us.

We are our own worst critics.  

When you are feeling low like the world is watching you fail miserably, I hope you remember that you are valuable and you are doing good things.  You are making a positive difference somehow with your existence, even if you don't feel like it in the moment.

Someone is looking at you, yes, but instead of seeing all of the bad hair days and hand-me-down clothes, and screaming tantrum-giving children or jiggly love handles...he or she is looking at your smile, at your attitude, at your power-stride and confidence even when you aren't feeling so great.  They are looking at your charisma and your ability to be calm in moments of crazy going on around you.  They are looking at all of the GOOD that you are sometimes unable to see in yourself.

So when you see someone's great outfit or beautiful smile or sparkling eyes...when you see a parent shushing their toddler to sleep while their family continues dinner without them...when you see someone give change to the man who has no where to go and no family to call home and you see that he still has spirit and hope...remember that the eyes of love that you are looking at THOSE people with...you should use to look at yourself.

See the human being.

This interview done by university students is really moving and is an absolutely fantastic reminder to us all that we are all someone's child.  We may be someone's sibling, husband, wife, cousin, father, or mother.  We are all human beings and by a stroke of misfortune, each of us could lose everything.  Our transportation, our jobs, even our lives.  It's a good reminder to be a little more humble, to be a little more thankful, and a little more caring and considerate of the people around us.  It's a reminder that it's ok to be sad or angry, but it's never ok to be cruel.  Please be good to one another.  It's the only way for all of us to truly find success in this life.

Yoga Doesn't Care

I LOVE a post I just saw.  I would title it "Yoga doesn't care."  It's awesome mostly because I think it has a perfectly transferable message if we replace "yoga" with "life."  I might even take that on and expand upon it because I love it that much...but I'm pretty sleepy, so for now, check out the original. It's great, I promise! :)

It's the little things...like coupons

A while back, I posted about my own coupon-angel when I was in the TP aisle...today a friend shares another coupon angel duo...awesome:

"It was really hard to justify buying anything for myself right before Christmas, even though I needed to.....so I joked with the cashier at Macy's that I told myself it was ok because my birthday is so soon....so her and the sweet old lady behind me said happy birthday and gave me a BUNCH of coupons and I ended up getting 80% off!?! Freaking amazing   ‪#‎spreadthelove‬"

Thanks NR for sharing!

The little Devonte that could!

You know what is amazing?  

When just ONE person believes in us, we can begin to move mountains.  You are one person.  

Do you believe you can make a difference?  BELIEVE!

We cannot help the hand we are dealt, but we can choose what we do with it.  Some will choose to fold.  They will lay down their gift and be out of the game.  Some will bet and they will lose...but they gained experience that can now be used for the next time.  Some people will bet and win...and what a great prize for taking a risk, even at the chance of losing it all.  I'm a designer, so I would probably use my hand to build a card house...and I'm sure there are plenty more options.

What happens when you're not even dealt a hand?  What happens when you're down and out and under the playing table when you start?  If we all gave a hand to the person who's on the floor, they might not only make it to the table, but beyond it...to a place no one could have imagined.  I saw a great example of this in an article this week, not about a down-and-out adult...but about a young man who did just what I mentioned with the help of his foster parents, some love, and his own integrity and tenacity and courage!  I introduce, Devonte!  Enjoy his story, and remember, it starts with one believer!

Human Rainbow!

In the same way that many brilliant colors come together and are known as "a rainbow," when people of different colors come together, we are a beautiful sight known as "the human race."

Out of many; One.

One race.  One world.  One love!

An old Hero looks to the Future

Sometimes we do what's right, not for any other reason than it is the right thing to do.  Sir Nicholas Winton saved the lives of over 600 children in Prague just before the "official" start of WWII from ever reaching Nazi camps.  He kept a list and pictures of every child he saved for his own records but never shared them with anyone.  His wife found the list in 1988, over 40 years later, and she, along with BBC, found some of the "children."

What a great man...deserving of the love and respect and honor that he has received.  He is also a great role model and a reminder to do what is right, no matter what the masses may say.  The good you do may save someone else's life: perhaps in an extreme way like in the case of the children Sir Nicholas Winton saved, or perhaps in a million smaller ways.

"If something's not IMpossible, there must be a way of doing it!" - Sir Nicholas Winton

**Just in case you want to know a bit more about this man, you should take 15 more minutes to see a quick explanation from a 60 Minutes documentary.  Some major points covered:  He didn't stop with the children, he went on to help out in wartime preparations, lived out his life looking toward the future and living in the present, and attributes what others call "his modesty" to the idea that we should all focus more on what is next.  He has been focusing on the opposite end of the age spectrum for quite some time now including his work with the mentally handicapped and the elderly, having built homes for the elderly in more recent years.  He is over 100 years old now and still a bright man with more to give as we all look toward the future together.

What it means to be rich...

It has nothing to do with money...if you want to know what makes people rich, one thing you should do is subscribe to this blog for your daily dose of happiness, and another thing is take a few minutes to read this post that I came across regarding What Actually Makes People Rich.  It's witty, funny, and honest, and I'd be willing to say most of it is probably spot on.  If you don't mind being offended into happiness while you also laugh at yourself and the world we live in a little bit, it's definitely worth the read!

National Anthem: Respect & Honor

When we think of honoring and respecting a national anthem, we usually think of our own, but what is even MORE beautiful and respectful is when we give others that same respect and honor.  This week, a video hit Youtube that reminded me of just that.

Thank you to our American family to the North (that would be Canada - we are ALL American  - North, Central and South - after all) for respecting our anthem and finishing it out when the microphone system went down during a national hockey league game in Toronto.  As a Buffalo Sabres fan, the T.Dot is nearby and therefore a big rival, but rivalry is for fun.  We're glad you guys have our backs and are thankful for your spirit and sportsmanship.  #CanadianRoots

A national anthem is representative of a country, a people, and a history.  Each nation has one and most of the nation knows it, even when the professionals forget the words on national and international TV.  Taking the few moments of silence, or celebratory singing, before international competition, or in honor of a nation is a great sign of respect and I can always appreciate a moment like this when nations uphold and respect one another.

This particular situation reminds me of another great moment, when someone who is worthy of his great talent and skill took a moment to respect the US National Anthem mid-interview.  Someone often known for his outrageous and inflated personality (and many will say 'with good reason') showed his true colors when he stopped a live interview to take pause for the anthem of a country that is not his own.  Usain Bolt, you have my respect, sir.  Thank you for showing the world what it is to be respectful of other nations and cultures no matter the situation.

Thank you to all of the individuals out there who respect one another and who recognize that we are all in this together.  To the individuals that honor one another in the small ways that they can.  You give glory to humanity.

We are human.

Equality for Everyone

We are one, no matter our skin color, hair color, eye color, or other color.  We are one, no matter our gender, orientation, sexuality, or sex.  We are one, no matter our physical differences caused by nature or by experience. We are one, no matter our age or status; Our elders have been in our place, and someday, we may live long enough to reach theirs.

We are one history with all of it's terror and all of its courage, faults, and glories.  We are one people, despite our many individual talents and absurdities.  We have one home, and that is the Earth where we were born and where we are all most likely to die.

We are each unique and we are all part of something GREAT;  WE ARE ONE HUMAN RACE.

We are capable of great hate or of great love.

We are capable of great war, but also of great peace.

We are capable of great destruction and of great creation.

We are capable of ignorance, but also of understanding.

We are capable of stubbornness and also of change.

We are capable of anything because we are human.

What result will your human capacity have?

Prank It Forward

If you need a little boost, I can highly suggest checking out Break.com's Prank It Forward mini series.  Doing great things for deserving people.  It gives me warm fuzzies to see Karma at work for good people!

'Tis the week of Thanksgiving

'Tis the week of Thanksgiving
and all through social media
there are "thank yous" and "love yous" and "we've got to feed-yas"
The people look forward to time with their loved ones
of dinners, desserts and those turkey trot runs.
And I in my gratitude, and you out there reading
were dreaming of visitors we'd soon be feeding.
When out in the world, there arose such a clatter,
I jumped at the opportunity to see what was the matter!

Away to "the others" I ran with some cash
in order that they too may have turkey and mash.
Thanksgiving, its meaning so great to behold,
gave the world a new viewpoint never to grow old.
That thing, so incredible, joyous, and real
was the way we say "thank you" and show how we feel!
I knew in a moment it wasn't so new
this feeling of humanity brilliant and true.
More powerful than any other intentions,
are the love and affection and honorable mentions:
My Family, My Friends, and My Enemies, too!
To strangers, to nature, and also to you!
From the Southernmost point, to the top of the world,
I'm wishing you,
urging you,
desiring you LOVE!

Those intentions they float up and out in the sky,
and as you flip-flop about which type of pie,
these wishes will find you and hopefully well,
and brighten your life more than you can e'r tell!
And then, when the big day is finally here,
and in come the guests who've been waiting all year,
do not hang your head over forgotten foods,
fore all that they wish is to lighten the mood!

You'll be dressed in your best after touch-football fun,
and laughing all evening about who really won!
A bundle of memories you will have in your bank,
and a thousand more reasons to remember to thank!
Your eyes, they will twinkle, along with the others:
Children, parents, aunts, uncles, grandmothers.
Your cheeks with be flush with the happiest smiles,
your cooking and planning was all worth the while!
You'll soon meet again for more great giving times,
and the memories of this will forever still shine.
You'll be thankful and caring and full of great joy,
you'll be wanting to help each adult, girl, and boy.

You'll find spirit in every person you meet
and you'll be sure that each has good shoes on his feet.
A wink of an eye or a kind honest word,
will let you know that you have done what you could.
Now speak out of love and with kindness, compassion,
as these grand emotions are ALWAYS in fashion.

My wishes will be with you all through the year,
for happiness, hope, and never a fear.
Spring out in the world and use this new power,
on others the love that you gain you should shower!
And I'll be overjoyed just to hear someone say,
"they treat me like each day is Thanksgiving Day!"

A Simple Act of Caring Creates an Endless Ripple That Always Comes Back to You

A simple act of caring creates an endless ripple 

that always comes back to you!

Be the change, and watch the world change with you!

Reality Check

So since all of these studies are coming out about how screwed up our minds have become because of social media not only allowing but encouraging us to make ourselves look like we have perfect lives and that we only take perfect pictures and that we never work and only take vacations to exotic and awesome adventurous vacations with our perfect significant others, I thought I'd share my day with you.

9 am...sleep app alarm goes off because I pick it up because I'm already awake wondering what time it is.  Snooze alarm.

9:15...alarm again...time to get uppppp...NO.  Turn off sleep app because I am alone at my apartment and I have no plans.  "I have enough food in the fridge and clothing in my apartment that I neither need to grocery shop nor do laundry.  I can sleep all day."

10:30...fiancee calls from another country.  We haven't talked in a few days so I've been stressed about that on top of working late (no one actually LIKES to work late, right?).

10:45...ok: coffee.  Shoot!  Lazy-sleepy-me was wrong; I need creamer for my coffee...Wait! Hold the phone and keep your PJs on, we have milk and we have a little bottle of vanilla extract and a bag of sugar.  I can work with that; all is well.

11:45  Check email.  No sign from work.  Life is good.  Do dishes, because what has been in my sink is ewww.  Finally pick up the pile that I swept up last week and never threw out.  Dry mouse poop.  Gross!

12:30 start watching youtube videos about dancehall choreography.  Then my day gets REAL.  I want to look like those hot girls with their sweet moves.  Still in my PJ pants, I have a sports bra because my heater only likes to go on for 5 steamy minutes at a time about every hour or so...it's like hot flashes in your 20s.

Sometime mid-afternoon I call Dad to chat and then go back to YouTube choreography.

4:45 Sweaty.  I must be dancing like a total boss!  These videos are awesome.  I should probably clean my apartment for the first time since about a month ago.  Yes, I am an adult with childlike tendencies.

Ohhh SHINY OBJECT!  I have no water, I guess I'll drink the beer that is in the fridge and dance around to Hip Hop in my Gunilla of Sweden face mask so my zits resolve themselves, while also being comfy because I'm still in my PJs.   I finished the 4 days worth of crockpot soup that I made overnight on Tuesday/Wednesday for lunch today :-/  I guess I should make something else to eat now.

Call Mom back.  Phone tag happens because I always leave my phone on vibrate.

6:45  I still have the spot treatments on, am still in my PJs, made rice a(nd nothing to accompany it), managed to unpack my winter clothes from boxes into drawers and am now sitting on my living room floor because I don't have a couch and writing this blog to tell you about my real life (just like all the other posts but in a different way).

So that's my reality.  I am a happy person.  I think that the way social media affects us is the way we ALLOW it to affect us.  So now you know.  I am weird, which is also the norm, which is also beautiful and perfect...so figure out the logic there.  And then, stop worrying about what other people are doing.  Be happy when they are happy, and recognize when they are sad so you can pick them up.  Call a friend and let them know you're lonely and you wanted to catch up (I did that, today, too and my friend was feeling just as lonely, so then NEITHER of us was lonely anymore!)

6:53 pm...Someone is knocking on my door and since I'm in my sports bra and PJs, like I said, I leave my blog to put a sweatshirt on and then this happened...

SO yeah.  "Reality Check," is right!  It's the week of Thanksgiving.  I've been reading great articles and news about things happening all over the country and the world so far today.  Buffalo, NY, for example, is under 6 feet of snow and, from everything I have seen and read, people are being awesome to one another.  Detroit is holding a raffle to benefit aid in Buffalo, solidarity is super.  A stranger just gave me and everyone else in my building a turkey for the upcoming holiday.  And that completes my day.  Just, wow.  How can we NOT be in awe of HUMANITY?!  Yay world.  Keep it up.  Tell me about your "reality check" day and what makes the everyday GREAT for you!

7:11 pm:  I will now return to my "how to booty pop" videos. on YouTube.  Happy Saturday!

Toni Morrison Speaks Truth, Talent and Love with Stephen Colbert!

This is an absolutely beautiful video.  Humor, truth, talent, and love.

Toni Morrison is a gorgeous soul.

Racism is a social construct.  

There is only one race, and that is the human race.  

Physiologically and chemically, there is no difference in any of us.

Embrace our oneness.  One race, one love, one world.

Yay Humanity!

Generosity Quote

An interesting perspective on what generosity does for the giver.

I find thoughts on generosity ESPECIALLY meaningful as the days get colder.  I found myself saying today "I don't think I could survive a few hours in the cold let alone an entire night, weeks, or months."  I have circulation problems that make me lose feeling in my fingers and toes at the slightest chill, and it creeps into my feet and hands when it's very cold, even when I am "properly" equipped for the cold weather.  With my hands shoved as deep into my pockets as possible on my walk home I made eye contact with each person asking for money.  "Stay warm," I offered.  It isn't much to say it, and I wonder if it's of any consequence.  I like to think that the simple fact that another person saw them as human being might be enough to warm them up inside, but words don't feed hungry stomachs or clothe naked backs.  So I will tell you, and remember myself in the days ahead:  Be generous.  Remember this, even when it isn't cold.  Perhaps if we make a second nature of generosity when it is easiest to remember, we won't need to remember by the time it's warm out again as it will have become habit.

Let go.  Give.

Detective Dad

YES!  There are crappy people out there...but what's AWESOME is that there are other people who are BEYOND AMAZING and they are changing the lives of other people who have great potential to be the leaders of change in the future.  Detective-turned-Dad because he had a heart for humanity, and a hate for the wrong in the world.  He did something about it, and two kids, and I'm sure a group of kids that will never end up at the foster home where these two kids were, have been given great opportunity.

The world needs more love for others like this.

Be that change.

The Egg

"You have within you all the knowledge and experiences of all your past lives. You just don’t remember them right now."

"Your soul is more magnificent, beautiful, and gigantic than you can possibly imagine. A human mind can only contain a tiny fraction of what you are."

"Every time you victimized someone, you were victimizing yourself. Every act of kindness you’ve done, you’ve done to yourself. Every happy and sad moment ever experienced by any human was, or will be, experienced by you."

POWERFUL. STUFF.

These are just a few lines from a story called "The Egg" by Andy Weir.  It is with my highest encouragement that people of all religions give it a once over.  We are all looking for the answers and I love the way that they came together in "The Egg."  We are all connected.  The Rastas are right to say I and I (which means "you and I" but recognizes others as one with oneself).  What a beautiful way to see the world and the people we share it with.  If you want your mind blown, you can link to the entire short story and find translations into many languages by clicking here.

Trippin'

The scene:  It's nearly 1am.  I'm just getting home from a super long day at work and not looking forward to waking up for another work day tomorrow.  The streets and sidewalks are almost completely void of people.  There are a few taxis and other cars going about their business but generally it's quiet.

As I walk across a two lane street, I see what seems to be a young kid, with a backpack, skateboarding toward me and I think,  "It's 1 am!  You should be in bed for school tomorrow!"

By the time this entire thought runs through my head, the skateboarder is within about 20 feet of me, heading down the middle of the road, and BAM!  Skateboard jerks to a stop, kid goes head over heels, backpack and all, onto the pavement.  I'm asking if he's ok but quick as a whistle, he's back on his feet and without a moment of pause looks at me squarely and says "That was YOUR fault" and he turns to pick up the board that deceived him with its abrupt halt.  I laugh, thinking his accusation is a joke out of embarrassment from his fall, and instead he continues..."you made me nervous because you're so pretty."  And with that, he hops back on the board and prepares to push off.

"Are you sure you're ok?"  I ask. "You're AWESOME." He says, and off into the night on his skateboard he goes, with a beep from a taxi that encounters his curves just a tad too liberal.


Thank you for being a strange incident in my evening, that actually made the end to my day quite pleasant.  Be safe, little skater (and get to bed)!

5,000 VIEWS!

Hip Hip HOORAY!  

Thank you for checking out my blog!  This blog officially reached over 5,000 views today and I couldn't be happier that you are out there in the world getting something positive out of it for your day!

Have a look around, follow me on twitter (see the twitter feed on the sidebar and click "follow"), check out the page sponsors, and subscribe by leaving your email address in the sidebar to "subscribe" and get updates as they happen to keep you feeling positive every day!

In celebration of 5,00 views, I'd like to share my very favorite statistic about this blog, and one of the few stats I actively seek out when checking its performance:  

Top nations visiting this site:

All-time Visitors:
United States
Canada
Malaysia
Switzerland
France
Germany
Taiwan
Russia
Serbia
Poland

Visitors this month:

United States
France
Taiwan
Poland
Italy
Sweden
Canada
Hong Kong
Costa Rica
Thailand

Visitors this week:

United States
France
Costa Rica
Thailand
Taiwan
Italy
Canada
Chile
Germany
Denmark Visitors Today:

United States
France
Costa Rica
Chile
Denmark
Spain
United Kingdom
Ireland

Look at the diversity of visitors on these lists.  So many countries are represented here and it makes me feel great to know that there are people actively seeking out positivity all over the world.  

Thank you all for being a positive force in the world!  

Come back soon!  

Be the change!