Do YOU

    This is your life! Only you can truly control your choices. Choosing happiness is the best way to achieve being good to yourself as well as the world. Here are some suggestions for how you can ensure simple joy in your life:

*Be the best you can be by your own standards

*Surround yourself with people who inspire you and make you feel good

*Focus on what you have, not what you lack

*Optimism trumps pessimism every time!

*Smile often and genuinely

*Be honest, to yourself and others

*Help others

*Embrace your past, live in the present, and look forward for what is yet to come

Giving Benefits the Giver, Too!

    Find joy in giving. “Altruism boosts immune function, improves our moods, and is linked, not only to a higher quality of life, but a longer one,” according to Stephen Post, at Stony Brook University. Those who help others also experience a “helper’s high” when their bodies are flooded with feel good endorphins and other natural chemicals. It’s pretty basic: when we do good, we feel good.

Think Good Thoughts

    Each morning, I state the intention of my day by thinking about all the good things that are going to happen. I also think good thoughts for my friends and loved ones, especially those going through difficulty. It certainly doesn’t cause any problems and I know it helps me, a lot.

A Quarter for Your Thoughts

    If you see a car parked in a metered spot that is about to run out of time, slide in some loose change to help avoid a parking ticket. Sometimes the driver is just a few minutes late and a ticket is almost a 100% guarantee to spoil someone’s good day.

Service

    “To Be of Use,” Marge Piercy’s marvelous poem, suggests something of the human condition- that we all long to be useful, to help, to work together toward a common goal. This is surely the best part of the human spirit. Meditate upon this: 

    What is my true purpose? What am I here to do in this life?

    I recommend that you contemplate this question deeply and for a very long time-days, weeks, months, and years, even. Let the answer speak through your service to others.

The Keys to Kindness

 If you are like me, you can end up with so many old keys you end up looking like a janitor! Find out how you can unlock some goodness with keysforkindness.com. Donate your old keys to help fight Multiple Sclerosis. 

Use Your Common Cents

    Lend a helping hand. Next time, the person in front of you in line at the cash register is short a few cents, give them the amount they need.

The Best Kind of Social Networking

    Help the elderly with their devices. Many senior citizens aren't tech-savvy, but given that we live in a technologically advancing society, learning how to use a computer or the Internet can be very helpful. Volunteer your assistance to a senior who has a cell phone or computer and needs help using it. Be email buddies with your new friends, too!

Treat People Well

    With the pandemic, it can be challenging to share something you worked hard on with people in your life. Like bringing homemade goodies to work. Even with social distancing and operating from our homes, for many of us, we work five days a week digitally with the same people for the same amount of hours. We need a sweet reward once restrictions are lifted, so what could be more uplifting than arriving the first day back to work to the sight and smell of baked goods or snacks? Make something that people would enjoy, such as chocolate chip cookies or banana break. The work environment will become much more warm and inviting than ever before, and making others feel good after a pandemic will be one of the truest pleasures in our lives.

Be a Good in Your Hood

    Pick up and recycle or compost loose garbage as you walk. Sidewalks are meant for safe walking, not weaving through someone else's abandoned bottles and crumpled up take-out bags. Take pride in the area you live and help contribute to keeping it clean and safe. One person helping can win-ire many others to do the same. I vowed to do this 15 yeas ago while living in the Lower Haight in San Francisco. By the end of each week, I usually had a big bag to take to the HANC recycling Center. In the last couple of years, I had gotten some puzzled glances and even laughter when I am dressed up for a meeting while walking down the street and picking up garbage, empty bottles, and have-you-not. I will occasionally say, "This is my service to the earth. Recycling is my religion." And it is. I have the planet's back!

A Book Can Change Your Life

    Give someone a copy of a book that has helped or influenced you- it may have a similar effect on them. I actually keep a stock of books that I love on hand to do just that and have recently gifted a few copies of The Power of Habit by Charles Duhigg. Give it a read.

Use Your Words

    I read all the time as a child, and by that I mean every minute I wasn't at school, doing chores or homework, or sleeping, I had the cover of a book open. I developed a love of language that has lasted me a lifetime. I noticed that it brings joy to others when they hear an interesting or pretty word. So try flipping through a dictionary every day and pick a word. Use this word at least once in the same day. This will help expand your vocabulary and communicate better with others. If you have a smartphone, download a free word-of-the-day app instead of using a dictionary. Help feed a child by adding a definition to the Online Dictionary on definition-of.com.

Share the Positive

    When you read an online article that you found helpful, moving, or enlightening, take a moment to leave a positive comment at the bottom of the page. Acknowledge the writer for their stye or content, or even add some additional information that you have about the topic. The writer- and other readers- may appreciate what you have to say. If it inspires you, share it, too. I started subscribing to www.dailygood.org and every morning, I come in to read some truly excellent and uplifting ideas in my inbox. I share the very best ones and have heard from Facebook friends and fellow Tweeps that they love 'em. So, as the old saying goes, accentuate the positive!

Think with Your Heart

     Shortly after retirement, Leon Delong, a very thoughtful Seattleite, wanted to utilize his new free time and he decided to do something meaningful. When he heard that city office towers were routinely throwing away half-used toilet paper, he started gathering them and delivering them to a local food ban, where they were given to the homeless and those in financial need. Over the last 15 years, the 76-year-old delivered over one million rolls of toilet paper. "I'm amazed how much this mattered to people," Delong said. "To me, it was just a nice thing to do. Now, it's my claim to fame." What is your claim to fame?