Tuesday, December 08, 2015

Holiday Treat For Others - 25 Day Challenge


"No act of kindness, no matter how small, is ever wasted." - Aesop

Each day leading up to Christmas, I will provide you with one or two things to do during the day. Call them acts of kindness or call them acts of just being nice. Each will only take a few minutes and are very easy to accomplish. Try them and then let me know what you did and how it went by leaving me a comment.

Day One - Hope On A Lamp Pole
Day Two - Allowing Others First
Day Three - Calming Automobile Rides
Day Four - Picking Up Litter
Day Five & Six - It was your weekend, what did you do?
Day Seven - Smile, You're on Life's Camera

Day Eight - Holiday Treat For Others

This is the day in which all exercise and good eating habits get a break. Today is the day you treat others to something easy and kind. What you should do today is buy some donuts, cookies or cakes for your co-workers.

You can even send something nice to you neighbors, friends or even those people who daily enter into your life such as the mail person, security folks at your building or even random strangers.

The idea is to simply do something nice for others and what better way than through food.

Let me know how it went and stay inspired my friends!


Monday, December 07, 2015

Smile, You're on Life's Camera - 25 Day Challenge


You'll find that life is still worthwhile, if you just smile.” ― Charles Chaplin

Each day leading up to Christmas, I will provide you with one or two things to do during the day. Call them acts of kindness or call them acts of just being nice. Each will only take a few minutes and are very easy to accomplish. Try them and then let me know what you did and how it went by leaving me a comment.

Day One - Hope On A Lamp Pole
Day Two - Allowing Others First
Day Three - Calming Automobile Rides
Day Four - Picking Up Litter
Day Five & Six - It was your weekend, what did you do?

Day Seven - Smile, You're on Life's Camera

There are many beneficial reasons one should smile as we go about our daily lives. Some of the things it does for you are;

Smiling makes you attractive, relieves stress, elevates our mood and is contagious. Yes, others will catch the feeling and begin to smile as well. Your smile has the power to lighten up the room. It can change the moods of others around you make things happier.

So your challenge today is to give a simple well-meaning smile to one or two others. Along with your smile, give them a sincere compliment. Make them feel good about themselves and in turn, you will feel great about you.

A very easy challenge that you can certainly grow from one or two today onto three or four times every day. It becomes your way of life to smile each and every time you encounter other people.

Let me know how it went and stay inspired my friends!


Friday, December 04, 2015

Picking Up Litter - 25 Day Challenge


There aren't many things that are universally cool, and it's cool not to litter. I'd never do it.” ― Matthew McConaughey

Each day leading up to Christmas, I will provide you with one or two things to do during the day. Call them acts of kindness or call them acts of just being nice. Each will only take a few minutes and are very easy to accomplish. Try them and then let me know what you did and how it went by leaving me a comment.

Day One - Hope On A Lamp Pole
Day Two - Allowing Others First
Day Three - Calming Automobile Rides

Day Four - Picking Up Litter

Just a few statistics that we can think about for a moment.

75% - Percent of people who have admitted to littering in the past 5 years

A simple candy wrapper, the empty water bottle and the ubiquitous cigarette butt. All of these things end up along our streets, sidewalks, highways and parks. Many of us are moving through life too fast to take notice, but it is there.

50% - Percent of all littered items that are cigarette butts

Look out your car window at most any street intersection. Would that person throw their cigarette butts out onto their own driveway or front sidewalk? Some yes, most others no. It is is easier to dirty the streets then dirty their own cars ash tray.

12 paces - Average steps a person will hold a piece of trash before littering

Some will argue it is too difficult to carry an empty soda can very far. The burden of finding a trash can becomes too much and thus is thrown to the side; left for someone else to pick up because we could not be bothered any longer.

$11.5 Billion - Total U.S. annual amount spent cleaning up litter yearly

My guess is the cost is much higher then this. Yet people continue to litter and this is a societal cost. But we can choose to have clean streets or live amid increasing filth.

So the challenge today is quite simple. If you see something on the floor at work, home, sidewalk, store; pick it up and throw it in a trash bin. Secondly, choose not to litter with your cigarette butts, candy wrappers or other trash.

I am not asking you to take on responsibility for the world. It is a simple task and if we each take a small amount of responsibility, things will be much better for all of us.

And doing so is doing something nice for others.

Let me know how it went and stay inspired my friends!


Thursday, December 03, 2015

Calming Automobile Rides - 25 Day Challenge


The one thing that unites all human beings, regardless of age, gender, religion, economic status, or ethnic background, is that, deep down inside, we all believe that we are above-average drivers.” ― Dave Barry

Each day leading up to Christmas, I will provide you with a couple of things to do during the day. Call them acts of kindness or call them acts of just being nice. Each will only take a few minutes and are very easy to accomplish. Try them and then let me know what you did and how it went by leaving me a comment.

Day One - Hope On A Lamp Pole
Day Two - Allowing Others First

Day Three - Calming Automobile Rides

Your driving happily in the right hand lane down the road. It might be the freeway or a four-lane city street. Life could not be any better as you make your way to some destination. Traffic is starting to slow and you see a car coming down the on-ramp.

Hey look, they are trying to edge in ahead of you so of course you are not going to let that happen. Make them wait their turn just like everyone else is what you tell yourself. But they edge in and through their actions and your efforts to keep them from cutting in, an accident nearly occurs.

Relax and let it go.

The challenge today is to one car cut in line on every journey. Maybe they are pulling onto the street from a parking lot, wanting to turn left in front of you or trying to merge onto the freeway. Just let them and do so with a smile.

Additionally, I want you to let someone have that parking spot up close to the store or near your work entrance. Let another person have the short walk and you take the parking spot on the other end of the parking lot.

Relax and let it go.

You have now done a kind thing for another person and you get a small bit of exercise by walking further from your car. Your stress will be much less and most certainly we can all use a bit more exercise in our life.

Go for it, let me know how it went and stay inspired my friends!