What It Means To Me

I may not post things that mean something to everyone,
but I do post things that may mean something to someone.

Little Acts of Kindness - Part Three

Let's continue making others happy by giving of ourselves.

41. Introduce yourself to your neighbors.  You might make a new friend.
42. Compliment a stranger.
43. Adopt a pet from the pound.
44. Send a paper greeting card -- thinking of you, thanks, get well, etc, -- to a friend, family member, colleague, whomever.
45. Let the person behind you in line go first.
46. Call your parents and tell them you love them.
47. Make duplicates of your photos and send photos to the people who are in the images.
48. Take the shopping cart back to the front of the store.
49. Send a care package to a soldier.
50. Compliment a well-behaved child.
51. Bake a cake or cookies for no reason at all.
52. Leave nice comments on blogs, Twitter, and Facebook.
53. Be on time.  Don't make others wait on you.
54. Offer a ride to someone who is "car-less."
55. Donate your old clothes and other items to Goodwill, Salvation Army, or other charity.
56. Share your talents.  Offer to teach a class to your friends or at your local craft store.
58. Donate craft supplies and office supplies to your local elementary school, daycare, or preschool.
59. Become a mentor for Big Brothers Big Sisters or other similar agency.
60. Don't spread gossip.

I hope these sixty acts of kindness will give you some inspiration for today, for Random Acts of Kindness Week, and beyond.

Thought of the Day - 2/11/14

The most common way people give up their power is by thinking they don't have any.
~~ Alice Walker ~~

Little Acts of Kindness - Part Two

21. Let a fellow driver merge into your lane.
22. Offer to babysit for a single mother or father.
23. Put your shopping cart back in its place.
24.  Write to a teacher who changed your life.
25. Tell a colleague they did a good job.
26. Simply say "I'm sorry" when you are wrong.
27. Throw away your trash and someone else's after a movie, picnic, etc.
28. Forgive someone a debt and never talk about it again.
29. Take care of a friend's pet while they vacationing.
30. Bake cookies or cake for the local police station or fire station.
31. Visit a senior citizen center and spend time with some of the residents.
32. Read a book to a preschool group at the local library.
33. Play football or other games with the kids in the neighborhood.
34. Ask someone "How are you really doing?" and then truly listen to her response.
35. Leave a generous tip for a pleasant waiter.
36. Help a friend pack for a move.
37. Pass along a great book you've just finished reading.
38. Have your children make/draw pictures and send to local nursing home.
39. Frame a favorite photo and give to your friend or sibling.
40. Call an "old" friend and take the time to catch up on all the family news.

This is a continuation of ideas for the upcoming Random Acts of Kindness Week.  

To Greatness

Break the Soda Habit

Do you spend most days with a can of soda by your side? You might want to break that habit. Turns out, ALL  soda -- even diet -- is bad for you.  New research suggests it's especially harmful to women. Here are six reasons to give up soft drinks for good.

1. Soda makes you fat. Both regular and diet soft drinks are tied to obesity. In one study, people who drank diet sodas had a 70% greater increase in waist circumference over a few years compared to those who skipped soft drinks.

2. Soda boosts your risk of serious disease. The extra belly fat that often comes with a soft drink habit is linked to heart disease and type 2 diabetes. A recent study in the Journal of Internal Medicine also tied a daily diet soda habit to a higher stroke risk.

3. Regular soft drinks may cause cancer. New research from the University of Minnesota School of Public Health finds drinking two or more regular soft drinks per week may almost double your risk of pancreatic cancer. Researchers speculate that the sugar overload from regular soda triggers insulin production that fuels cancer cell growth.

4. It's bad for your teeth. The big culprit is soda's high acid content: phosphoric, malic, citric, and tartaric acid strip tooth enamel. Citrus-flavored soft drinks are the worst -- they dissolve enamel up to five times more than colas.

5. It's bad for your bones. The same acids that are bad for your teeth also coax calcium from your bones. That goes for regular and diet caffeinated soda. 

6. It's bad, even if you don't gain weight. New research from the American Heart Association finds that women are more vulnerable than men to the harmful effects of drinking two or more sugar-sweetened drinks per day. Soda-sipping women are likely to have a larger waist size, higher "bad" LDL cholesterol, higher levels of triglycerides, higher blood sugar, and lower "good" HDL cholesterol -- even if they don't put on a pound.

Little Acts of Kindness

One small thoughtful gesture can make someone else's day . . .
 
1.  Smile.  Smiles are contagious.
2.  Pick up the newspaper off the ground for an elderly neighbor.
3.  Pay the toll for the driver behind you.
4.  Take a moment to direct someone who is lost.
5.  Pay for coffee for the person behind you in line.
6.  Help carry groceries for the elderly, disabled, or pregnant person in line behind you.
7.  Write a letter to a child who could use some extra attention. Kids love getting mail.
8.  Offer to pick up groceries for an elderly neighbor. 
9.  Drive the car pool, even if its not your turn.
10. Give a homeless person your "doggie bag."
11. Take a neighbor's dog for a walk.
12. Put coins in an expired meter.
13. Help a mother carry her baby stroller up the stairs.
14. Hold the door open for people behind you.
15. Each time you get a new item of clothing, give away something old.
16. Drive a friend to church.
17. Send a card to a friend. Most people still like getting mail.
18. Say "please" and "thank you" and truly mean it.
19. When you're on a crowded train or bus, offer your seat to an elderly, disabled, or pregnant person.
20. Take your neighbor's mail to the post office.

The week of February 16, 2014, is Random Acts of Kindness Week.  Throughout the coming week, I'll be sharing many ideas that you can do to make things a little easier, a little nicer, a little happier for all of those people around us.