Karma On Wheels

Slow down and let other drivers merge and go ahead of you. Allow every pedestrian to amble

across the street, the slower the better. Is that extra five minutes of driving time going to ruin

your life? No, but being a patient, safe, and nice driver will make the ride all the more pleasant

and will send a ray of goodness in your wake.

Detox Your Diet

    Buy grass-fed, hormone-free, organic, and free-range meat, dairy and eggs. Many grocery stores now have organic sections with produce that doesn’t contain chemical fertilizers, pesticides, or herbicides. These choices are better for you and the earth because no chemicals go into the soil or water. These items cost a little more but for the sake of your health- and taste buds!- it’s worth the price. Human-made pesticides and fertilizers require energy and resources to be manufactured and distributed; they also pollute the air, soil, and water, and have been shown to be carcinogenic (cancer-causing) in many cases. Vegetables that are grown organically require less fossil-fuel energy to be grown, pollute less, and are far less likely to cause any health issues. Prevention Magazine (prevention.com) offers lots of good information about food safety and what to avoid. Healthier is also happier!

Karma On Wheels

Slow down and let other drivers merge and go ahead of you. Allow every pedestrian to amble across the street, the slower the better. Is that extra five minutes of driving time going to ruin your life? No, but being a patient, safe, and nice driver will make the ride all the more pleasant and will send a ray of goodness in your wake.

World AIDS Day

    HIV, the virus that causes AIDS, has become one of the world’s most serious health and developmental challenges. In the United States alone, 1.7 million people are estimated to have the HIV virus. According to aids.gov, 33.4 million people are living with the HIV/AIDS virus globally and more than 25 million deaths resulted in the virus worldwide since the first reported cases in 1981. Educate yourself and your family about this epidemic, promote safe behaviour, and consider volunteering some of your time toward helping those infected. AmfAR’s “Countdown to a Cure for AIDS” is a research initiative aimed at finding a broadly applicable cure for HIV by 2020. “Countdown to a Cure” is designed to intensify amfAR’s (amFar.org) cure-focused HIV research program with plans to strategically invest $100 million in cure research over the next six years.

Mindfulness at 55 MPH

    Be a mindful driver, not a distracted danger to yourself and others. Driving, texting, and talking on the phone are very dangerous. Typing out a quick text may feel harmless, but texting requires visual, manual, and cognitive attention that you should be giving to the road. Think about-and educate yourself on-the dangers of distracted driving. Here are a few statistics provided by distraction.gov to get you started:

• An estimated 421,000 people were injured in motor vehicle crashes involving a distracted driver.
• 11% of all drivers under the age of 20 involved in fatal crashes were reported to be distracted at the time of the crash.
• Sending or a receiving text takes a driver’s eyes from the road for an average of 4.6 seconds, the equivalent-at 55mph-of driving the length of an entire football field, blind. Bottom line: don’t do it!
  

Guilt-Free Beauty

    Be sure to buy beauty products that have not been tested on animals. Check with leapingbunny.org for a list of companies that do not test finished products, ingredients, or formulations on animals. You can also phone 1-888-546-CCIC (Coalition for Consumer Information on Cosmetics) and they’ll be happy to send you a pocket-sized shopping guide to companies that manufacture with compassion. You can also look for the leaping bunny logo on cruelty-free products. Pretty on the outside and the inside!

National Endangered Species Day

    Did you know monarch butterflies are at risk of becoming extinct? Protect wildlife and endangered animals. Join a preservation group or animal sanctuary to help keep our habitats and animals safe. More than 800 animals have gone extinct over the last 500 or so years, according to the International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources' Red List- generally considered to be the most comprehensive of its kind. Our diversity is what makes Earth so special and we must do all we can to preserve it.

Free Hugs for All!

    Covid has been hard for those of us who thrive off of hugs. So once everything is lifted, be an indiscriminate hugger. When I first moved to California, I was bit taken aback by all the feelings of comfort, contemned, and security. Hugs are one of the most beautifully human things we can do, and it's definitely on the top of everybody's list once this pandemic is over. So prepare yourselves by hugging what you can around your house, whether it be your pet, a pillow, or a stuffed animal lying around!

Go Forth and See the World

    Things are starting to get back to normal, and vacation plans are beginning to ramp up in numbers again. And after this past year, it's important to remember the importance of traveling, even if it means still wearing a mask and having hand sanitizer on your person after getting the vaccine.

    I am reminded of the peripatetic Phil Cousineau that travel is a very important tool for lasting happiness and creating memories to savor over a lifetime. Phil, author of essential guides to making travel meaningful, The Art of Pilgrimage and The Book of Roads, says its important to "go out of your way," and meet people that are native to the place you're visiting. He also reminds us to give gifts, simple tokens from your homeland, and gestures of goodwill that will be returned a thousandfold.

    Over 2,000 years ago, the sage Lao Tzu remarked, "The longest journey starts with a single step." Phil says to use "the eyes of the heart" when traveling to learn something about yourself and the wide world around you. Here are some of Phil's recommended practices for making travel meaningful:

    Imagine your first memorable journey. What images rise up in your soul? They may be a childhood visit to the family gravesite, the lecture your uncle gave at a famous battlefield, or the hand-in-hand trip with your mother to a religious site. What feelings are evoked by your enshrined travel memories? Do they have any connection with your life today? Have you ever enshrined travel memories? Do they have any connection to your life today? Have you ever made a vow to go someplace that is sacred to you, your family, your group? Have you ever imagined yourself in a place that stirred your soul like the song of doves at dawn? If not you, then who? If not now, when? If not here, where? Paris? Benares? Memphis? -Uncover what you log for and discover who you are.

    If you are traveling soon, make sure you are still practicing guidelines! Mask up, sanitize your hands, and keep six feet apart.

Buddy Up

     Teach your children, or the children in your family, about the buddy system. According to the Amber Alert website, a child goes missing every 40 seconds in the United States and more than 700,000 children go missing annually. In order to ensure the safety of your children, teach them to hold your hand when out in public; not to talk or go off with strangers; remember their phone number and address; and to yell "FIRE!" rather than "HELP!" if someone is trying to hurt or take them- this will gain more people's attention. Every child we save will make for a better future.

Karma on Wheels

     Slow down and let other drivers merge and go ahead of you. Allow every pedestrian to amble across the street, the slower the better. Is that extra five minutes of driving time going to ruin your life? No, but being a patient, safe, and nice driver will make the ride all the more pleasant and will send a ray of goodness in your wake.