Trees are the Lungs of Our Planet

    Have you heard about the amazingly ambitious goal of the Nature Conservatory to plant a billion trees and restore the forests of the world? From the rainforests in South America to China and even in the Arctic Circle, this hardy group of tree huggers is doing their darndest to recreate the woodlands and rainforests everywhere they can. I urge you to look at the map to see how far they are getting. It is impressive and gives me so much hope for the future.

The Little Things Count

    Do little things for others, like holding the door open and letting someone go before you, or allowing the person with only one item go ahead of you at the grocery store. I think due to our over-busyness nowadays, so many people rush through life and don’t consider the feelings of others. A simple gesture can be a good reminder for us all, myself included. Take your time, look around you, and ask yourself, how can I help someone today? In the end, you are helping yourself just as much.

Stop World Hunger with Ten Grains of Rice a Day

    Save a few dollars each month and donate it to a different charity. One great option for your donation is through freerice.com. For each correct answer in their online quizzes, they donate ten grains of rice to the World Food Program to help end world hunger. Think about how much rice will be donated if even half of the population did this!

Have Mercy

    Donate a gift through Mercy Corps. It’s as simple as this: choose a gift on their website. The recipient gets a card that explains the gift and donation made in their name, and your gift helps families in need. Visit gifts.mercycorps.org to view the gift selection, ranging from clean water to a goat. You can choose to remain anonymous or you can personalize with a friendly note to a family on another part of the globe. It’s really nice to see how your gift is of benefit and people have developed long-distance friendships through this kindly organization. Often, the daily headlines are reflected by the regions presented. Currently, families affected by Ebola need all the help we can give them.

Operation Gratitude

I learned about this from my mom, whose church regularly sends cards, letters, and care packages overseas to the armed forces. My mom and her fellow church ladies bake some of the best cookies in the world, so they gather up all kinds of goodies and treats and send them overseas where the taste of down home surely brings many smiles of satisfaction. Those who are less gifted in the baking department (such as me!) can make a $15 donation to Operation Gratitude, which pays for one care package for one serviceperson. Operation Gratitude  (operationgratitude.com) has sent over a million of these kindness kits around the world!

Think Globally

    Start a conversation with someone of a different culture, religion, or political view, while actively listening and responding. Becoming aware of someone else’s standpoints and personal journeys may enlighten how you think. Nowadays, people of different vantage points need to realize that we may worship differently but we are people all the same. Be accepting and show it. This time of year, so many different cultures celebrate the turn of the year in ways unique to their traditions. Why not find out more about these festivities and even attend some? It’s a small world, after all, right?

Human Rights Day

    Today presents an opportunity to celebrate human rights and advocate for equal human rights everywhere. As much as we like to think that the world is all sunshine and rainbows, that is not the truth; we should not be blind or ignorant of the truth. Today, make yourself aware of the injustices going on the world by doing some research on the prejudices and hate that many people experience from others. Do what you can to help promote human rights today and everyday. To keep up on all the latest, check out hrw.org.

Look at Everything in a New Way

    Simply reframe your perception: each of us has had dreams that for one reason or another, we do not achieve. And we may have made choices that perhaps were not the best. Yet, rather than allowing regret to overtake us, we must celebrate all the other goals we’ve accomplished and positive choices we’ve made. 

    Human nature so often leads us to perceive the one negative in a sea of positives. But we can retrain ourselves to learn the lessons embedded in our mistakes, and allow ourselves to feel pride in the beauty we are capable of. All it takes is a little shift. You’ll see.

Lighten the Load on Our Environment

    Laundry can be a costly business, both financially and environmentally. Expensive conventional detergents and laundry aids are mostly derived from petroleum and often contain chemical fragrances and phosphates, which are known to deplete water of oxygen. This has devastating effects on fish-they basically starve and die. Eco-alternatives are much cheaper, just as effective, and so much better for our world. 

    At the store, look for phosphate-free, eco-friendly laundry detergent powder. The green brands use a soap base instead of petroleum, which works just as well without the deadly chemicals. You may even find that strange allergies and discomfort goes away as you eschew heavily chemical-laden soaps.

Rice is the Grain that Feeds the World

    Rice is the grain that feeds more people in the world than any other, going back many thousands of years-to 6,000 BC in Northern Thailand, 5,000 BC in Northern India, and 10,000 BC in Kashmir. It is grown in paddy fields (water-filled beds) in countries all over the world-India, China, Indonesia, Thailand, Japan, the US, Greece, Turkey, and others. 

    There are so many wonderful ways to use rice that you could cook a new recipe per day for the rest of your life and not run out. Just be sure to use the correct rice type for the recipe or the dish will not be successful. For example, risottos need Arborio rice, a fat, starchy grain, which cooks to a soft, creamy texture yet remains a firm middle. Jasmine is aromatic and used in Thai cooking: it is a long grained yet sticky rice that remains moist and tender. Don’t be afraid to make mistakes. Just learn how to cook each type, use a heavy pan, and don’t overcook-or buy a rice cooker.

Trees are the Lungs of Our Planet

    Have you heard about the amazingly ambitious goal of the Nature Conservatory to plant a billion trees and restore the forests of the world? From the rainforests in South America to China and even in the Arctic Circle, this hardy group of tree huggers is doing their darndest to recreate the woodlands and rainforests everywhere they can. I urge you to look at the map to see how far they are getting. It is impressive and gives me so much hope for the future.

Get Out of Your Head and Into Your Heart

    Because the world we exist in today is very much about staying in your head, many of us have to make a concentrated effort to become grounded and in touch with our bodies and the natural world around us. Grounding is a technique for centering yourself within your being. Grounding is the way we can reconnect and balance ourselves through the power of the element of earth. When you see someone driving past talking on their cell phone, you know that they are not grounded. For deep grounding, we recommend a creative visualization or, better yet, a group guided meditation.

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.

Pay It Forward

    Stop for a moment and think of someone who needs a gesture of kindness. Perhaps it is something king that someone once said to you. With gratitude for what was given, reach out and give back. It can be a simple gesture, like sending a card, or calling someone who is sick and saying you care. You may well recall the movie or book, but if you want ideas and to connect to other kindly folks, go to payitforwardfoundation.org. Pay It Forward is all about people, from all walks of life, giving to others and making a positive difference. At last count, there were more than 500,000 people in 60 countries around the world participating. 

Wish Upon a Hero

    Grant someone a wish through Wish Upon a Hero, a network dedicated to people helping people. Anyone can be a hero by sending a donation or offering a service. Explore heronetwork.com to browse through wishes and see if you can help with any. It is a really good reminder of what others are going through and that you are needed in this world.

Universal Bringer of Kindness

The universe always has space for more kindness.

Buy your copy of "Random Acts of Kindness" by Brenda Knight and Becca Anderson now on mango.bz: https://mango.bz/books/random-acts-of-kindness-1484-b

Stop World Hunger with Ten Grains of Rice a Day

     Save a few dollars each month and donate it to a different charity. One great option for your donation is through freerice.com. For each correct answer in their online quizzes, they donate ten grains of rice to the World Food Program to help end world hunger. Think about how much rice will be donated if even half of the population did this!

Lessen the Landfill in Your Daily Decisions

     Diaper with a conscience. By the time a child is potty trained, a parent will have changed between 5,000 and 8,000 diapers, adding up to approximately 3.5 million tons of waste in US landfills each year. Whether you use cloth or a more environmentally friendly disposable alternative, you're making a choice that has a gentler impact on the planet.

The Language of Kindness

    Learn a new language. Or become more fluent in your less dominant language if you are already multilingual. The more people you can communicate with, the more you'll make yourself available for work opportunities. Learning other languages will also open you up to new people and cultures. One time,  friend of mine took a volunteer vacation where he taught English to orphans and abandoned children in Liberia. He said he enjoyed every minute and wants to this every year, as he loved working with the kids. As he told me this story, his smile was at least a mile wide.

Be Ripsniptious!

     Author Art Plotnik helped revive this world in his book Better than Great: A Plenitudinous Compendium of Wallopingly Fresh Superlatives. Simply put, "ripsniptious" (rip-snip-shuss) can be used to express something or someone that is wonderful and highly spirited. Today, you will be ripsniptious and notice all of the other ripsniptious things around you. Let this be your word of the day and let it embody you- and introduce others to ripsniptious of the word ripsniptious! It's fun to say, isn't it? It's even better to be it. It is also a wonderful compliment and I think you are pretty darn rupsniptious for visiting The Lower Haight Holler!