Thanksgiving Blessings

What is in your control TODAY, TOMORROW, and in the future to make a difference? That was my question to you last week.  What did you decide to take action on NOW?

As a reminder…Let’s NOT be guilty of doing kind things only over the holidays, or only for a short time. Let’s commit to KINDNESS without judgment and blame each and EVERY day. Let’s commit to this daily life mindset.  THEN we can truly make a change for generations to come.

Thank you to all of you who have taken the time to respond to my blog last week, in particular. My life goal is for you to stop and think about YOUR life. I don’t pretend to have all the answers as I am finding my own truth along life’s journey as well. I hope to bring ideas to the forefront and let YOU decide what works and what doesn’t work for YOU. I hope for you to become consciously conscious of each decision whether it’s business or personal, each interaction, each relationship, each friendship, and each action that you take. I hope that in this journey you also learn to apologize for a fit of anger, you take responsibility for things you did that hurt someone else, that you leave behind blame and judgement, and that you learn to forgive yourself. My hope is also for those of you in your 20’s and 30’s to step up and commit to continuously learning and growing and for those of us in our 60’s and 70’s to not be stagnant and think we can’t continue to learn and grow and yes, even CHANGE.

As the holiday season winds up with Thanksgiving only two days away, let’s remember WHY we have this holiday in the first place. Originally, it was a day set aside to remember and give thanks to God for what He had done in protecting the first men and women who came to America, fleeing religious persecution in Europe. It was a type of harvest celebration like the one that the Jews celebrated; a day to give thanks for the crops they were able to harvest. In my opinion, this may be one day on the calendar; however, our gratitude needs to be on a daily basis.

Let’s step out of our usual routine and maybe even our comfort zone a little this year. The reality is there are many hungry children, many families needing help with food on a daily basis let alone a feast for Thanksgiving. Feeling guilty for what we do have isn’t a resourceful feeling nor does it do anything to make a difference. My challenge is to do something that WILL make a difference.

 

It’s the little things…As you go to the grocery store to get what you need for YOUR Thanksgiving dinner, why not add a Bag Hunger grocery bag for a family to also have something on their table. Contribute to your local food bank with time or money, serve at a church supper for the homeless, maybe it’s including a student who’s not able to get home for this holiday, a single person, an elderly neighbor, or a young family without relatives close by to join you and your family for dinner. Look around you. What ACTIONS can you take to make a difference in someone else’s life?

In the book, Power of Being Thankful, by Joyce Meyer, the entry for November 26^th is titled, “Changing the World Around You.” Very appropriate for these times, right?! “One of the best ways to get your mind off a problem or a troubling situation is to go help someone else. When you display love to others, it not only blesses you, but it changes the world around you. Those are two great reasons to start living in love.” Sometimes love is just being friendly and compassionate.

“We’ve tried selfishness, discouragement, blame, judgement, self-pity etc.. Those are all non-resourceful and definitely DO NOT work! We’ve seen the horrific catastrophe of the Russian plane being bombed, the Paris attacks, and even the daily shootings in our own cities. The world has seen the results of these situations.

There is a better way to live our lives than focusing on problems. Choose TODAY to be an agent of change in your part of this world.

I wish you a special day of gratitude and blessings this Thanksgiving season! I also wish my husband, Happy 39^th Anniversary, as it happens to be on Thanksgiving this year. YOU are MY blessing and someone I am eternally grateful for having in my life.

Random Acts of Kindness

Have you ever thought about how frustrating it is that our Congress can’t work together, there seems to be so much violence in the world, there’s nothing positive on the news, our children and grandchildren have so much more to deal with than we did when we were their age.  Yes, all that is true, however, I go back to one of my beliefs…what you focus on expands.  So I choose to look for the good, I choose to not watch a lot of news, I choose to make a difference in my own corner of our planet, and I choose to focus on abundance and blessings. 

In the past week, I have learned about an organization called ARK, Acts of Random Kindness.  What’s interesting is how this organization began…one person can make a difference!

“In December of 2012, Alex Radelich was sitting in his dorm room at Purdue University after finishing an exhausting week of final exams. In an attempt to wind down after the long semester, he flipped on the television and began watching Evan Almighty, which is a movie starring Steve Carell and Morgan Freeman that gives a comedic Hollywood twist to the story of Noah’s Ark. There is a point in the film in which Steve Carell asks “How can we change the world?”, to which Morgan Freeman, who is playing the role of God, replies, “One act of random kindness at a time.” It was this cheesy, yet somewhat profound movie scene that inspired Alex to make a change.” What followed next was, “Alex then sold some personal belongings, ordered some ARK cards, and started a website aimed at creating a community of people dedicated to spreading kindness. As all of this was happening, a team began to form. A team of four close friends bent on impacting the world through kindness. And, just like that, ARK Project Now was born.”

How awesome is this? 

Their mission is “to inspire an epidemic of kindness in our society. In order to work towards accomplishing this goal, we want to get 6,000 pledges of kindness as part of our “Just Do One” campaign. The “Just Do One” campaign was launched as a way for people to commit to performing an Act of Random Kindness, either daily, weekly, or monthly. Since one Act of Random Kindness has the potential to change the world, just imagine what 6,000 could do.”  What an exciting way to make a difference in our world and so easy to do! 

”We truly believe that one act of kindness, no matter how small, has the potential to change the world. Because of this core belief, we have made it our mission to perform of Acts of Random Kindness and recruit others to do the same. Acts of Random Kindness, or “ARKs” can include anything from purchasing coffee for a stranger, providing meals for the homeless, or going out of your way to hold the door for someone. Even something as simple as a smile has the potential to make someone’s day better. After performing an Act of Random Kindness, we encourage “ARKers” to leave behind an ARK card, which urges the recipient to pay it forward. This sets off a chain reaction and creates a cycle of kindness that impacts people we may never even meet.”

You've heard about the people who pay for someone else’s coffee or the woman in line realizing the mother in front of her was having to put back diapers since she didn't have enough money.  That woman stepped up and bought the diapers.  How often do you see something that you could make a small difference if you did an act of random kindness?  What if we were teaching our children and grandchildren to do the same thing?   We can teach them to look around and see where they could make a difference in someone’s life.  What about including another child who’s by themselves on the playground to come play?  Or sit with someone at lunch who always seems to be alone?  We can model that behavior and encourage others to make a difference.  If you’re interested in reading more about this organization, click on the link below:

http://www.arkprojectnow.com/#welcomepage

Imagine our world with this mindset?  One young college student started this project and now there are people all around the world participating.  It’s the little things. It’s the things you do without expecting any recognition and often it’s done anonymously.  It’s making a difference in someone else’s life which has the potential of making a difference in our world.

What can you do this week to make a difference in someone else’s life?  Begin today.  I’d love to hear your story.  Email me with the details.  I wish you a wonderful last week of July!