There are a few people in my life especially talented at a creating a sense of occasion. And, I think they shine because of it.
These people understand that creating moments is, in essence, finding reasons to make others feel important. They know it requires extra time and effort, but instead of shying away from the extra work, they welcome it. They see life as an opportunity to celebrate people and events and, because of them, life is sweeter and definitely more fun.
My mother is the reigning champion.
I remember coming down stairs one birthday morning and finding a small present wrapped in my cereal bowl. Or waking up the morning I took my SAT and finding a present and encouraging note perched on my desk. There were also experiences like Peanut and the Shell during long summer months, and art classes for all the neighborhood kids during spring and winter breaks. My mother's ability to pack wonder into an otherwise ordinary day did, and still does, amaze me. Two weeks ago she ordered a small ice cream cake from Baskin Robbins and arranged for pick up on Valentine's Day and last Monday she made President's Day magical by sending my boys a book about former presidents in a fun red, white, and blue package.
The website www.brownielocks.com is a close second to my mother. This website lists every day of the year and attached to virtually every month, week, and day is something to celebrate. Some occasions you expect, such as Women's History Month, National Literacy Week, and Halloween. Others fall into the category of Things-That-Make-You-Go-Hmmmm. These are occasions such as National Accordian Awareness Month, World Monkey Week, and National Lacemaking Day.
March is a long, sometimes cold, and usually dark and dreary month. And, since the only holiday it really plays host to is St. Patrick's Day, I decided to try flexing my Sense-of-Occasion-Muscle and to feature all the things that make March shine. Beginning tomorrow, I will consult with www.brownielocks.com and, each day from now until March 31, we will find something to celebrate. Feel free to take a look and see which day you are most looking forward to.
Your guess is as good as mine as to where this will take us, but I trust if it is to he!! in a hand basket, it will at least be a great occasion and we will have fun.
And, if you are looking for an occasion to celebrate today, consider: National Tooth Fairy Day, Floral Design Day, Rare Disease Day, and Purim.
Shining off until tomorrow...
In the next six weeks we will be celebrating two birthdays in my house.
Jack turns four next weekend. Thankfully, he still doesn't fully understand the relationship between birthdays and presents. Birthday cake he gets and ice cream he gets, but birthdays and presents still hasn't computed.
Matthew, on the other hand, turns seven in April and he has the whole exchange mastered. Lobbying for his birthday gift usually begins shortly after Christmas when he takes inventory of what Santa didn't bring and accounts for all of his new interests. So far this year, his birthday list consists of a sleeping bag, a computer so he can start his own blog, a rope ladder for his tree house, a road bike, his own home office, and a sewing machine (don't ask).
No where on his list of birthday wishes, however, does Matthew have listed clean drinking water for people living in developing nations who are currently doing without.
Not so for this week's recipient of our Yellow Envelope Project. This week we honor Aidan, an eight year old boy in Florida, who we learned about from a fellow blogger. She found Aidan's website and, was moved enough by the compassion of this little boy, to pass his story along to us. Our nominator sought approval from Aidan's mom before submitting his name and she shared these words from his mother:
"About a month ago, 20/20 aired a special called Be the Change: Save a Life. My son Aidan sat down to watch it and was especially taken aback by the number of children that died before the age of 5 because of a lack of clean water. He was impressed with the work of Charity:Water, but didn't mention it again until the next Tuesday night when he asked if he could donate his birthday this year. So this year, instead of presents, his goal was to raise $800 for Charity:Water. He asked the kids in his class and neighborhood to help. It turns out Aidan blew right past his goal, and at the time his nomination was received, had raised $2078. How amazing is that?! I'm sure most 8 year olds want video games or action figures for their birthday. Aidan wants children to have clean drinking water. He explained, 'Water is more important than toys I will get on my birthday. There are kids who do not even get to turn 5 years old because they have dirty water. This makes me sad. So, I don't want presents this year or a big party. Instead, I want everyone to give $8 because I am turning 8 years old.'"
Aidan is exactly the kind of person we love recognizing at the House of Shine. Charity: Water wasn't his brainchild and his motivation for participating was not solely to elevate himself or his cause. He didn't need to be the leader to find motivation for giving. Aidan's motivation resided in a youthful, but wise, observation that something is terribly wrong when good people are dying because a basic human need, like clean drinking water, is left unmet. That and he is compassionate beyond his years.
I am sure Aidan received lots of checks made out for $8.00, due to his birthday request. What I am quite certain he hasn't received is a mailbox flooded with yellow envelopes, each remarking on his truly selfless and generous birthday wish. Flooding his mailbox with anonymous letters of gratitude is something we can do to reinforce his generous spirit, even at such a young age.
Participating is easy. Simply write a short note to Aidan and seal it in a yellow envelope (or a white envelope decorated with yellow markers or stickers). No need to put your return address, for the same reason Aidan didn't demand his name be attached to the water well he's helping to pay for in Africa. Instead, write the words, "Yellow Envelope Project" in the return address. Then, commit to mailing your envelope to the address listed below sometime before next Saturday when we meet again to recognize another worthy recipient.
Aidan Ortiz
5938 NW 85th Lane
Parkland, FL 33067
One more note: This week I have to decided to involve my boys in the fun, since Aidan is close to their ages I will have them visit Aidan's website and let them watch the Charity: Water video he has posted (http://mycharitywater.org/p/campaign?campaign_id=12487). Then I will let each of them create something to be included in my yellow envelope. With some luck my boys will learn a little something about the lack of clean water in developing nations and a whole lot of about how good it feels to encourage others to SHINE.
Join me, won't you?
Happy Friday fellow House of Shine readers. Cheryl here and welcome to my Year of Love.
In the past four months I have dove head first into the world of relationship research and advice trying to discover what it is I am doing to sabotage all my relationships. Why I attract men that can't, won't and don't commit to me. Believe me, it's a pattern. What can I learn about myself to attract the type of relationship that I'm looking for? It's been completely eye opening and something of an emotional self awareness roller coaster after just eating a chili dog. It hasn't always felt good and it hasn't been all bad. But, don't worry, that's not what I want to share with you today.
What I do want to share with you is something that I learned about our hearts from Dr. Deborah Rozman.
Did you know that your heart produces two and half watts of energy with every heartbeat? Did you know that with every beat your heart creates an electromagnetic field that can be felt three feet away? You're a Super Hero and didn't know it!
I'm not going to get all "sciencey" on you because I'm not capable of completely grasping all the science terms and then explaining them to you correctly. But, this electromagnetic field is either projecting coherent waves (the lovely, sweet ones) or incoherent waves (the nasty, disturbed ones) and these waves can be felt by the other people in the room with you.
Say your in a meeting (or an a date) and you are nervous, upset or judgemental, other people sense this.
Are you saying, "So what, Cheryl! Who cares?" Don't click away yet!
The point is you have control over your heart's electromagnetic field. You can transform anxiety improving your health and creating better communication with others. You can use this technique to self-soothe and center yourself. Because, really! It's all about you! Change starts with you.
It's called Heart Locking and here's what you do- let's do it together now:
Take a moment to relax. You don't have to close your eyes but just sit relaxed for a moment. Take a deep breath in. Focus on the area around your heart. Breathe deeply and imagine your breath entering your heart. Breathe through your heart. Think of a time you felt gratitude. Relax and breathe in. It can be a time you felt gratitude with a friend, a child, or a pet. Anytime that you remember feeling gratitude. Focus on how that felt. Keep breathing deeply and focusing on that feeling of gratitude. Got it? If you've read this slowly, it's probably been under a minute. Consider going another minute or two focusing on your heart and remembering a time of gratitude but just this one minute has recharged your electromagnetic field creating more coherent waves so why not just go for another minute.
Okay, hopefully you feel ready to go forth and conquer the world now with your coherent force field RAYdiating love, kindness, gratitude and SHINE! If you would like to learn more about Heart Locking and your hearts force field check out HeartMath.
Now, before I sign off I have to share this with you:
Look at what I saw as I drove on to I-35 this past Tuesday afternoon:
It has the words love all over this car and RV! How appropriate, right? And I have to send out an apology to whoever was driving the RV because I'm sure I nearly killed us all trying to get my phone out to take a picture but I could not let that moment pass me by! They're promoting healthy snack options and I haven't tried them but you can bet I'm going to be on the lookout for them in a store near me. Love Grown Foods - Have you tried them? Here's an upclose pic of the RV:
Okay, signing off until tomorrow when I can't wait to read about our next Yellow Envelope Project nominee!