October 27, 2009

Affirmation: I give and receive gifts graciously
(Affirmation from "Meditations to Heal Your Life" by Louise L. Hay)

Yesterday I was desperate for some strong coffee, being a Monday, so I put the kids in the car and headed to the local drive-thru Starbucks. I ordered a Grande cappuccino and waited my turn. There was a car in front of me and my son noticed there was a child in the back seat. It was a really run down car and for some reason my son was intrigued by the car. I answered his questions but paid little attention to the people in front of me. I was focused on getting my Starbucks. As I pulled up to the window to pay the barista, she handed me my coffee and said the person in front of me had bought my coffee and to have a great day.

Ok, so last month a gentleman was kind enough to buy me breakfast on my birthday and this month a complete strange is buying me a cup of coffee on a morning when I really needed it. Something is going on in the world – something great!

One of my friends recently sent me a website about giving to others – helpothers.org. It is a site with stories about people who have done acts of kindness for others and how it has personally changed their own lives. After reading several of these stories last night I did a little more research and discovered something called the 29-day Giving Challenge. It is a global gift giving movement where every day for 29 days you give something to someone else. It can be a kind note, a cup of coffee, etc. It was started by a woman named Cami Walker who was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis and was given the advice, by a South African medicine woman, to stop thinking about her so much and start giving away to others. While she still has multiple sclerosis her symptoms have dramatically reduced and she has created a website for others to document their 29 days of gift giving and how it has enhanced or changed their lives.

The website is http://www.29gifts.org/ and I encourage everyone to check it out and sign up for 29 days of giving to others. The stories on the website are inspiring and I absolutely love the idea of changing the world one day at a time, one gift at a time. When the gentlemen bought me breakfast on my birthday and then the lady bought me coffee yesterday, it made me feel really good. How nice to make others feel this way. Plus I think we live in a world of me, me and me, and by giving to others we become a little less obsessed with ourselves. Louise L. Hay points out that, “appreciation and acceptance act like powerful magnets for miracles every moment of the day.” I have signed up for the 29 day challenge and encourage you to do the same. I will report back after 29 days to let you know what changes have happened for me. I’d love to hear if others are following in my lead. Have a great day!

Writing Update:

Ok, I have to be honest…I haven’t done much these last couple of days. It’s hard to write that down here and makes me feel frustrated with myself, so today I am going to change that. Every week I get the magazine Woman’s World and there is a short romance story published every week. Today I am going to start writing a short romance story that I will submit for publishing. I am giving myself one week to finish the story. So, next Tuesday, I will report back on my progress with this. Wish me luck!