Operation Beautiful

Sometimes, girls (of all ages) need to be reminded of how amazing they are.  Operation Beautiful is on a mission to tell girls that they are perfect just the way they are.  You post anonymous notes in public places for other women to find.  A random act of kindness.  When I learned about this a few weeks ago, I knew that I wanted to become involved and help spread the beauty everywhere I went.

I figured the best place to start is the high school I teach at.  Teenage girls definitely need a self-esteem boost, especially with the media's perception of beauty that they are constantly bombarded with.  I hear the girls talk and I know that this is definitely the place that could use some positive reminders.

So, I decided that in order to stay as anonymous as possible, I had to get the notes up when no one was at school.  A Saturday of a 3 day weekend sounded like the perfect time.  There are 8 girls bathrooms and I got to all of them.  I was in and out quickly and quietly.  All the notes will be up when we go back to school Monday morning.  Mission accomplished.

 

In putting up notes that said things like, "You are perfect just the way you are", "You are loved" and "You are beautiful", it was also a good reminder for me.  Not only did I feel good about what I was doing for others, I also just felt good about myself.  I felt beautiful.  It was exhilarating.

 

I suggest everyone grab a stack of post-its and go attack women's restrooms at restaurants, stores, movie theaters, the women's locker room at the gym and at schools...  Anywhere you go, leave a positive message behind for the next girl who looks into that reflection.  Spread the beauty.  Your beauty.

♥∞, 

~B

"Happiest girls are the prettiest." --Audrey Hepburn 

A World Community of Love

What a week in giving! 

And I don’t mean mine either.  I mean, watching the world come together to give to Haiti.  I am amazed at the level of compassion that the world community has shown.  It makes me proud to be a part of it. 

There are so many ways to get involved and give. 

Here are a few great ones: 

~There’s the mobile campaign which has just surpassed $10 million. Wow! Text "HAITI" to 90999 to donate $10 to the Red Cross.

~Red Cross, Unicef, Yele Haiti, OxFam, Mercy Corps, Humane Society Emergency Fund, Doctors Without Borders and others, are all taking donations of any amount.  Anything you can give will help.

~T-shirts: both Herbivore Clothing and Café Press have merchandise you can buy with 100% of the proceeds going to Haiti.

~An interesting one is signing a petition that convinces global creditors to cancel Haiti's $890 million international debt. Doing so will help make sure that every possible future dollar goes towards rebuilding a stronger Haiti, not to servicing old debts.

~The Monsters Ball Tour.  I LOVE LADY GAGA!  Not just because she’s holding a benefit with 100% of the proceeds going to Haiti.  But because you if you can’t attend the Ball in NYC, on the 24^th, anything you buy online at Lady Gaga’s store, also goes go to Haiti.  LOVE HER.  

As far as my own week in giving, it was super fun.  More bamboo plants, this time for my lovely tattoo shop, some thank you notes, encouragement posters, a day of work to a friend, a big package of goodies for my mom & money to the homeless.  The most important though was the money I gave to the Red Cross the day of the quake.  I’ve also signed some letters of encouragement to the U.N. workers & President Clinton, who are doing the amazing job of rescuing people and helping to save lives.  Send them a quick note to tell them how much you appreciate what they are doing.  Or you can just click here.

“The love aroused by the catastrophe in Haiti is a giant force. It's like a genie from a bottle. When this is over let's not put it back!"  ~Marianne Williamson

♥∞,

 ~B

Be Love

“Whatever you have in your hand, give it.” -- Abu Sa'id 

I find myself giving whatever I have in my hand at any given moment.  Or as in the case of the other night, what’s in my closet.  When my bestie was admiring a dress I said, "Take it!"

I seem to have lost my attachment to things recently.  I have never been much of a “stuff” person.  But I keep clearing out more and more things on a daily basis.  A lot of stuff I really don’t use or need are on their way out in the next few weeks.

As for these first 12 days of the 365, the giving has been good.  Shoes have been given, groceries have been bought for folks that couldn’t afford it, a little moonstone pendant to one of my students, the dress, lemons for everyone…    

There has also been some that have required creativity.  Such as: making Wordles and Ecards for friends.  If you have a little bit of time and feeling crafty, try it.  It costs nothing and it’s super fun.  It’s an easy thing to do to brighten someone’s day.  Another good one was filling out a letter of recommendation for a HS senior applying for a big scholarship.  I love boasting about people that deserve it!

If you’re feeling proactive, check out The Petition Site and sign some petitions for causes that mean something to you.  You don’t have to write them but you can personalize each letter or petition with your own thoughts.  You might even find some new causes to support.  Of course, you can always lose yourself in FreeRice.com.  Fun, educational and feeds the hungry.  Win, win, win.

The most special was last Saturday, when I spent the afternoon with the elderly woman who lives downstairs and her 6 year old granddaughter.  We walked around the park, let our dogs play together and cleaned up any trash we encountered.  Afterward I was like, who am I? 

There’s been a lot of those moments lately.   But the answer is really simple:   

“Love IS the Answer.  No matter what the question is.” -- Jon Marro 

♥∞, 

~B

The 31 Days Re-cap/Fun Ways You Can Join In On The Giving Fun

Giving has become second nature to me. During my “31 Days of Giving” and the continuation into the “365 Days of Giving”, the opportunities to give now find me. Ways to give in which I never could have dreamed of, now show up sometimes several times a day. Thank you Universe.

Before that, sometimes the opportunities came up spontaneously, but I usually had to plan. For my 31 days, I started out the first few having definite plans on what to give. Soon enough, the opportunities just started popping up without me having to give it too much forethought. I think you’ll find, that it will work that way for you as well.

Here is a quick re-cap/fun-ways-you-too-can-give from my 31 Days last month:

~Thank You cards to people who may not receive recognition very often. Perhaps your mailperson, secretary/receptionist at work or apt. leasing office manager. They probably don’t get lovely hand-written thank you notes frequently.

~Do you have a fruit tree in your yard or an abundant veggie garden? Well, I don’t, but my parents do. A very happy lemon tree over-flowing with juicy, delicious fruit. When I visit they load me up with them. I’ve given bags to my neighbors, my yoga studio and even my favorite restaurant. (Scored free dessert too!)

~Speaking of dessert, I love buying desserts or sweet treats for friends and my students. It doesn’t cost too much to buy a bag of goodies or treat a friend to something cold and yummy!

~Do you get your hair or nails done or maybe have a massage therapist? How about next time you get some sort of service done, bring them a little gift? I brought my amazing masseuse/acupuncturist a lucky bamboo plant when I saw her last. Plants are cheap and brighten up any room.

~Break out your Jr. High/High School skills of making rad mix-tapes. Course, now they're mixed CDs. Make one and hand it off to your best friend.

~Look around your home. Have clothes and shoes you don’t wear anymore? Perhaps kitchen appliances you don’t use? There are always people and/or organizations who could make great use out of the things you no longer use. Give it away! “ If you are not relishing it right now in this moment, then give it away!” -- Tricia aka Jason Mraz's former Joyologist

~Time. I realize that time is not something people have a whole lot of. But, it is free. I walk my dog everyday at our local park. When we go for our walks I bring an extra bag and clean up any trash I see around the park area and dispose of it properly.

Sometimes all it takes is a simple thank you or small token as a gift. Give to those closest to you first. Bake your brother his favorite cookies (check), take your dad to the movies (check) or buy your mom dinner (check). Then expand your circle of giving from there.

Easy, simple & inexpensive ways to be generous and share your abundance!

I know that not everyone has tons of money and riches to give. Especially right now, people don’t have a lot. Trust me, I understand. I’m a dance teacher. I LOVE what I do, but I don’t make much.

Giving is not about that. In fact, abundance is a state of mind. Be thankful for what you’ve got and more will come into your life. Same with generosity. That love, in the form of whatever it is that you are giving, will come back to you in other ways. It always comes back to you. Trust in that and give.

♥∞,

~B

"Never worry about numbers. Help one person at a time and always start with the person nearest you." ~Mother Teresa

Kindness is Contagious

So, this is new for me. Blogging. Weird. (Except for back in the day when Myspace was all the rage. I had stellar Myspace blogs...) But I feel like I have something of importance to give and share with the world all of a sudden. A shift in perspective.

I've come to understand in the past few years that giving and receiving are one. Especially when done from the heart and with conscious intention. In fact, it's an infinite loop of love, kindness, compassion and generosity. What you put out is indeed what you receive. That goes for everything I suppose. You put out negativity, you'll receive negativity. You put out positivity, you'll receive positivity. But it has never been more clear than recently.

I've always been a giver. I love to give gifts. I pride myself in that. Surprise, random, sweet, silly, spontaneous little gift giver I am. Then last month (Dec '09) I was inspired by The Ellen Show (of course) and her 12 Days of Giveaways. Since giving is nothing new to me I thought, I can do that too, heck I'll double it. Then I thought, if I'm doing 24 days I might as well do all 31 days of December. So that is what it became: The 31 Days of Giving.

And it was one of the most life changing experiences of my life. That's a big statement, but it was. It was also one of the most fun. I gave food to food drives, clothes to clothes drives, toys to toy drives, coats to coat drives... December is FULL of some type of "drive". I also continued in my spontaneous gift giving to friends, family and colleagues. I'm a (HS dance) teacher so I made my classes more like being in the audience for the Ellen show, "Everyone is getting a copy of _________". The kids loved it obviously. Everyone loves free stuff.

I also made some donations to organizations that I support such as, The Humane Society, Greenpeace, The Invisible Children and PETA. Not giant donations. (Like I said, I'm a teacher.) But enough to know my money is making a difference. I also donated time, which I think is more important than giving money. I spent the day at Animal Acres, a sanctuary for animals rescued from the factory farming industry. I met some of the most beautiful individuals that day, both human and animal. Kindred spirits. And even though I spent the next 2 days being sore from all the sweeping, shoveling and cleaning, it was absolutely worth it!

That's the biggest lesson in all of this, it feels good to give. It makes me happy to make others happy. I feel it's almost selfish in a way. There's instant gratification when you see the joy on someone's face and the gratitude they feel. I share in that with them. I also tried to get my loved ones in on it, so they could feel what I was feeling. I took my brother with me to go drop off a box of blankets and toys to the local animal shelter. In turn they let us come in and play with the kitties up for adoption. The energy of the place completely changed and my brother and I left the place buzzing with joy.

I knew by day 9 that this is how I wanted to spend everyday of 2010 (and beyond). So the 365 Days of Giving was born. I'll do blogs to re-cap the "Week in Giving", but I will say that I feel like I'm onto something really good and really big. I can't quite describe it. I'm different. The way I see the world and my reality are different.

I want everyone to feel this amazingness with me. Even if you only do one small generous act a week, you will see that it has a ripple effect. Same is if you drop a small stone in a pond. The love you put out, continues in all directions from you. And you too will see that kindness is contagious.

I will leave you with some of my favorite quotes about compassion, generosity and kindness.

Enjoy! 

Kindness in words creates confidence. Kindness in thinking creates profoundness. Kindness in giving creates love. -- Lao Tzu

It is the greatest of all mistakes to do nothing because you can only do a little. -- Sydney Smith 

Generosity is living in the trust that you are always provided for and can provide for others. -- Jon Marro (Owner of Blend Apparel)

I have found that among its other benefits, giving liberates the soul of the giver. -- Maya Angelou

Compassion is a muscle that grows stronger with use and the act of choosing kindness over cruelty will change us. -- Jonathan Safran Foer (Author of "Eating Animals")

What can you give away today? -- Cafe Gratitude

♥∞,

~B