Category Archives: Inspiration

Beliefs

Emotional Intelligence Development

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Emotional intelligence (EI) is the ability to identify, understand, and manage one’s own emotions and the emotions of others. It is a critical skill that can help individuals to navigate social interactions, manage stress, and build positive relationships.

There are several ways to develop emotional intelligence:

  1. Self-awareness: Developing self-awareness is the first step towards improving emotional intelligence. This involves awareness of your emotions, understanding their triggers, and how they affect your behavior.  Knowing how you will react to things and why is a strength that will allow you to be proactive and understanding in your life. Other people will not so easily be able to push your buttons.
  2. Self-regulation: Once you know your emotions, you can learn to regulate them. This means managing your emotional reactions to situations and learning to control impulsive behavior. Rather than reacting to situations, your will be able to respond to people and situations with thought and steadiness of purpose.
  3. Empathy: Empathy is the ability to understand and share the feelings of others. This involves paying attention to nonverbal cues, listening actively, and showing genuine concern for others. Through concern and understanding of other people’s emotions, your wisdom will grow, and you will be able to help people manage themselves better.
  4. Social skills: Developing social skills involves communicating effectively, building positive relationships, and constructively resolving conflicts. Through Emotional intelligence, you will be able to communicate in a more meaningful way. This strength will help you grow existing relationships and to establish powerful new ones.
  5. Continuous learning: Emotional intelligence is not a fixed trait but a skill that can be developed over time. This involves being open to feedback, learning from your experiences, and seeking opportunities for growth and development. We all are growing every day, and each interaction and experience is a chance to grow into a better human.

Actively looking for ways to develop your emotional intelligence in your daily life will lead to personal growth.  You need to try to add some strategies to your conscious thought. Some strategies for developing emotional intelligence include:

  • Practicing mindfulness and self-reflection
  • Seeking out feedback from others
  • Engaging in activities that promote empathy, such as volunteering or community service
  • Building positive relationships with others
  • Reading books or attending workshops on emotional intelligence
  • Practicing active listening and practical communication skills.

By developing emotional intelligence, individuals can improve their personal and professional relationships, increase their resilience in the face of stress, and enhance their overall well-being.

Beliefs

Your Little Voice

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We all have an inner voice that speaks to us. Sometimes it’s a positive voice, encouraging us to chase our dreams and pursue our goals. Other times, a negative voice holds us back and tells us we’re not good enough or that we’ll never succeed. This negative voice can be so strong that it can prevent us from taking risks, trying new things, and achieving our full potential.

What to know about the Voice

It’s important to understand that this negative voice is not a reflection of who we are as people. It’s simply a product of our experiences and the messages we’ve internalized over time

Our Negative Voices

. These messages may have come from critical parents or teachers, societal expectations, or even our own self-doubt.

But the good news is that we don’t have to be held back by this negative voice. We can learn to recognize when it’s speaking to us and take steps to overcome it.

Overcome Negative with Positive

One way to overcome the negative voice is to challenge it with evidence. For example, if the negative voice tells us that we’re not good enough to apply for a certain job, we can make a list of our skills and accomplishments to prove to ourselves that we are qualified. If the negative voice tells us that we’ll fail at a new hobby, we can remind ourselves of times when we’ve succeeded at something new in the past.

Another way to overcome the negative voice is to practice self-compassion. This means treating ourselves with the same kindness and understanding that we would offer to a friend who was going through a tough time. When we make mistakes or face setbacks, we can remind ourselves that everyone experiences these things and that they don’t define our worth as a person.

Surround Yourself with Good People

It can also be helpful to surround ourselves with positive influences, whether that’s supportive friends and family members, inspiring books and podcasts, or uplifting social media accounts. By filling our lives with positivity, we can counteract the negative messages we may have internalized over time.

Ultimately, the key to overcoming the negative voice is to take action despite it. We may never be able to silence that voice completely, but we can choose to act in alignment with our values and goals despite the fear and doubt that it may be trying to instill in us. By taking small steps toward our goals each day, we can build momentum and confidence and eventually prove to ourselves that we are capable of achieving great things.

In conclusion, the negative voice in our heads can be a powerful force that holds us back from achieving our full potential. But by challenging it with evidence, practicing self-compassion, surrounding ourselves with positivity, and taking action in spite of it, we can learn to overcome it and find success in our lives. Remember that you are not alone in facing this challenge, and with time and effort, you can learn to overcome the negative voice and achieve your dreams.

Inspiration

What to Do When You Hit Rock Bottom

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Whoever said “It’s not about the destination. It’s the journey” never flew on a long haul flight. Those flights can be painful, tiresome, jet-lagging, and not to mention absolutely boring despite whatever Disney movie is playing above you on the TV screen. As someone who has flown from Europe to the USA countless times, I’ve picked up some tips and tricks on flying long haul. Here are my tips.

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Bring a scarf or jacket.

A scarf especially can act as a blanket or pillow during your long haul flight. Nowadays it’s becoming less common to have a blanket included on your flight, and sometimes the cabin doesn’t even have enough for everyone. The best advice is to bring something functional just in case because flights can get quite chilly. A relatively thick, large scarf will almost always do the job.

Pack a memory foam neck pillow.

Once again, you want to be comfortable on your flight and no matter if you’re in the window, aisle, or middle seat, a memory foam neck pillow will make it all the more comfortable and relaxing for you.

Tip: Some people are hesitant to pack a neck pillow because of space. But most neck pillows have a snap closure, meaning you can easily snap it onto your carry on handle or strap it to your personal item. When it doubt, you can always wear it around your neck. No shame.

Bring an eye mask for sleeping.

If you’re flying through the day, an eye mask will be extremely helpful in getting some relatively normal shut-eye. If you’re flying on a red eye flight, it’s less necessary, but honestly every little bit helps.

Put headphones and a portable charger in your personal item.

This one is crucial for keeping yourself entertained or productive. Headphones for jamming or listening to podcasts and a portable charger for keeping your mobile devices charged. Sometime flights have the USB port, but you can’t always count on them to be functioning… Yes, I’m serious. Pack headphones, a portable charger, and your cord just in case.

Download podcasts.

Fun, educational entertainment! Podcasts have become one of my favorite pastimes for flying. I just download a few interesting ones before my flight and enjoy them while I’m on board.

Pro Traveler Tip: If you’re traveling somewhere new, I love listening to podcasts about that country or location to start getting inspired and excited about my adventure. You could even download a couple of podcasts that teach you some essential words or phrases in your destination country, too!

Inspiration

If You Aren’t Building Together, You Are Growing Apart

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Whoever said “It’s not about the destination. It’s the journey” never flew on a long haul flight. Those flights can be painful, tiresome, jet-lagging, and not to mention absolutely boring despite whatever Disney movie is playing above you on the TV screen. As someone who has flown from Europe to the USA countless times, I’ve picked up some tips and tricks on flying long haul. Here are my tips.

\"\"

Bring a scarf or jacket.

A scarf especially can act as a blanket or pillow during your long haul flight. Nowadays it’s becoming less common to have a blanket included on your flight, and sometimes the cabin doesn’t even have enough for everyone. The best advice is to bring something functional just in case because flights can get quite chilly. A relatively thick, large scarf will almost always do the job.

Pack a memory foam neck pillow.

Once again, you want to be comfortable on your flight and no matter if you’re in the window, aisle, or middle seat, a memory foam neck pillow will make it all the more comfortable and relaxing for you.

Tip: Some people are hesitant to pack a neck pillow because of space. But most neck pillows have a snap closure, meaning you can easily snap it onto your carry on handle or strap it to your personal item. When it doubt, you can always wear it around your neck. No shame.

Bring an eye mask for sleeping.

If you’re flying through the day, an eye mask will be extremely helpful in getting some relatively normal shut-eye. If you’re flying on a red eye flight, it’s less necessary, but honestly every little bit helps.

Put headphones and a portable charger in your personal item.

This one is crucial for keeping yourself entertained or productive. Headphones for jamming or listening to podcasts and a portable charger for keeping your mobile devices charged. Sometime flights have the USB port, but you can’t always count on them to be functioning… Yes, I’m serious. Pack headphones, a portable charger, and your cord just in case.

Download podcasts.

Fun, educational entertainment! Podcasts have become one of my favorite pastimes for flying. I just download a few interesting ones before my flight and enjoy them while I’m on board.

Pro Traveler Tip: If you’re traveling somewhere new, I love listening to podcasts about that country or location to start getting inspired and excited about my adventure. You could even download a couple of podcasts that teach you some essential words or phrases in your destination country, too!

Inspiration

Letting Go

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burningFire is an element that represents many things to many different people. To me, it has a symbol of purification. This is because when I looked into the fire, I saw the future ahead of me and the past was left behind.

The Significance of the Fire

There needs to be a bit more explanation than that I suppose.  In life, there are people who come into your life and cause only a ripple in the large tangle of life’s experience. Then there are those that are destined to leave a deep emotional crater, that you are destined to carry in your life.  How much and how long you carry it is up to you.

I started the fire for purification purposes. It needed to be done, a weeding out of cluttered possessions that served no purpose other than to remind me of things that were gone. As long as I held these things, there was the hope in the back of my mind that they would somehow summon those ghosts from the deathly slumber of their existence. It was time for a funeral, it was time for purification.

A Picture is Worth…………….

fire footage
Pictures burned as memories drift into the sky, never to be seen again.

The pyre I started was solely for me to observe and as the preparatory flames burned I said a silent goodbye and started to cleanse my existence of those memories. It was the pictures that went first.  Each happy moment of fake smiles and skin deep beauty were at first singed and then ever so slowly erased from existence.  As they went all of the lies, jealousy and foolishness went with them. Watching them go one by one was fascinating. Playing back entire years of events.  Then wiping them and their cursed impact away.  As the last fake image of yesterday disappeared into the either, candy swirled emotions of relief and fear engulfed me.

Possessions Mean Little to Me

campfireThen it was time for the things. Things that at one time held a vat of feelings and memories of special moments that will never be lived again. Knowing that there was a beauty in the world was great, but knowing that beauty can cut you deep and leave you with nothing but scars and disappointment. Onto the fire went the every single thing that had ever been given or held any attachment whatsoever.  Some of them burned well and caused the fire to burn ever higher.  Some did not, there was a bottle from a special occasion, that only the label disappeared in the wall of flame.

Your Words Showed Their Value

Eyes on FireLast and not least were the words. Words are empty when the emotions that once supported them. Now they are like the crack of a whip every time you read them and realize that they are no more. Let them go, place them in the fire.  Read one final time and destroyed forever.  That is the way of relationships that are born in the fire. They are often ended by the fire. How else could it possibly be?

The cleansing was over, the end had come. The fire went out, the past was gone with its last searing growing ember. Never to be mentioned again in conversation, but the scars remain, not only from the past but from the first moment I looked into the fire.

https://youtu.be/siIukVsG3vs

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Inspiration

What Is Up

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Inside my head it's a mess_thumb[10]I read a great article last week about finding out what is happening on the inside. To make this more clear to get in touch with your subconscious mind, through art. This blog is called the Creative Guru, and she really is creative and a guru.   I saw the very beautiful and talented artwork the author created and loved it.  She is an artist and rendered paintings, which are just wonderful.

The author suggested that you need to have no artistic ability to do this yourself.  Lacking any ability to draw at all, I wanted to accept the challenge and see what was happening inside myself that perhaps I wasn’t aware of, if that is possible.  She also has promised to evaluate the deep meaning behind my picture. She also gives links to help your do it your self. Click Here for these

The process is quite simple, don’t think, just draw.  Whatever you feel like just do it. Well not thinking was easy, drawing was not. I did three images to give a really clear example of both my artistic failings and my unresolved issues.  I am no expert but this is what I found with each picture.

This is the short basic list of what you should look for:

  • Rounded shapes and curves indicate a need for harmony in your life.
  • Straight lines & square: indicates a down-to-earth personality
  • Arrows: signify some goal that you have in mind.
  • Intricate patterns: indicate an introverted and obsessive nature.
I even had a name for this, but I crossed it out. Didn't want to reveal too much. Can you guess what it was?
I even had a name for this, but I crossed it out. Didn’t want to reveal too much. Can you guess what it was?

This was the first one that sprung to mind if you can’t tell they are balloons tied to a fence. I am not sure why this is hidden in my mind but it was.  My interpretation: I really like balloons, they are very happy things, securely tied to a fence post where their strings will be cut someday and they will fly free through the atmosphere.  Lots of rounded shapes and straight lines, I am a down to Earth person with a need for harmony in my life. Whew! I was really worried there that I might want to join a circus or a carnival or something.

Picture number 2

Not sure I need Freud to interpret this one.
Not sure I need Freud to interpret this one.

This was the second one I did and I am not sure if the person getting rained on is me or not, but I have definitely felt this way some days. The interesting thing was the giant head of a duck was the last thing I added for no apparent reason. I would like to know why?

We are all duplicitous, I think
We are all duplicitous, I think

This was the third one I did and it is what it is.  I would explain it but really have no idea. It is the picture of a room. The thing in the middle is a mirror.  The rest of the stuff I just drew and am not sure about but I am open to suggestions.

So there you have it. I spent some time on this day, trying to find out what is on the inside. These three drawings have shown that I really don’t have much talent. However, to be honest, there was a great feeling of release in creating them. I felt happy when I was done and poor artistic ability aside, I like looking at them. I could have made a few more but wanted to keep my intense artistic abilities to myself.

What I learned so far is that it is fun to stretch yourself and try new things, without question.  Trying something new is fun and I encourage you to try it.  I may not be able to interpret these but I respect and admire those that read these pages, so please feel free to give me a title for each picture!! Thank you very much for reading to this point you deserve a prize.

 

 

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Inspiration

My Deep Thought Notebook

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by Jonathan Hilton

My current colorful, deep thought notebook!
My current colorful, deep thought notebook!

I am not sure what other people do with their thoughts. I mean the one’s that make you adjust in your seat and know that there is power boiling there.

The potential seed that could grow into some potentially awesome writing, or a gadget the world has never seen before and may never experience if I don’t record it quickly and accurately.  I often get hit with ideas from sources I experience every day and spend my time trying to record them in my almost magical, brightly colored, deep thought notebook.

Why I carry My Notebook

I have been carrying around a notebook for most of the past two years to catch these wonderful thoughts before they can escape me.  I call it my notebook of deep thoughts and ideas. More of a hopeful title than descriptive because it captures all ideas both good and bad.

As a learner throughout life, writing things down allowed me to internalize them, ingest them and work them around inside which allows me to decide if the idea is a good one or if it needs a bit more work. My notebook allows me to place an idea off to the side, safe and sound. Then return to it in the future and find my subconscious has found the value of that writing.

Looking for a "great Idea" in my notebook. Find them all the time
Looking for a “great Idea” in my notebook. Find them all the time

Some are from reading I do, and note taking of unique points and thought provoking phrases that highlight a feeling or spark a unique thought.  Some come from the great blogs I read online. I fill my notebook with quotes and descriptions that are just inspiring.  Like a blog I read yesterday for the first time. There were so many great writings, I filled up many pages, with quotes like:“In your shadow, I became a child.  In your light, I became a bird, and learned how to fly.” – Purnimodo

This quote and many others,  I place into the book and refer back to as often as I have to, in order to let it spawn a great expression of my own.  These are easy to do, because the words speak a story.  In a few short words, a story is spawned in my mind.  It is then just a matter of letting it flow out through my fingers onto the keyboard.

Some times during meditation, I think of those words and they allow me to encompass and cover the entire world.

Get Yourself a Thought Book

I highly suggest that you have a thought collection process for all great ideas that come your way, be they deal with spiritual things, action plans or just great information about life.  I am sure that people look at my colorful notebook and have pangs of jealousy, but they are going to have to find their own.

The great thing is that the actual book, means nothing without some substantial substance located on the pages inside. Any old notebook can provide any person with a vehicle to catch their ideas and manufacture them into greatness.  Mine cost a dollar but I have made it priceless.

 

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Inspiration

I Feel So Much Gratitude!

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Thank You
I was very shy about letting anyone know what I wrote.

by Jonathan Hilton

I was scared to death! Petrified! White knuckle, grab a hold of something, close your eyes and scream scared of what other people would think of my writing. So much so, I really hesitated to ever show it to anyone.  I had one friend who I would “let” read what I thought. They were very safe and supportive.

Finally after a bit of coaxing,  I started to take a few tentative steps out into the world of blogging.  It was a world that is very strange to me, I just never realized how many other people write and share their work.  What an amazing discovery this world has been.  It is a world of dynamic personalities, interesting thoughts and great knowledge.

I was pensive at first because I am careful by nature I guess, and looked at a few blogs, and finally got up my courage to leave a couple of comments.  I was amazed that not only did most of the blogs I commented on read my comments but they replied back!

I read another bloggers account of reading spam and pretending that it was real interaction, because at least it felt like someone had read my thoughts.  That was me for sure. So getting actual feedback from real people was like winning the Super Bowl!

thank
Thank you so much for following one of my blogs in any way!!

Other people actually read what I wrote.  What a great feeling! Now even though I have never met in person any of these people, their stories and writing is a vital part of my daily life.

Finish a job at work, sneak over and see what is happening in the blog world.  See a story that inspires, a video that puts me in awe, or a picture that makes me scared of reptiles.  What ever it is generally, specifically I am inspired.  Creativity comes from this inspiration and I want to express my gratitude for those who have followed me in as special a way as I can!!!

Thank you so much for making my life a richer experience. I placed each person in a random order because I love all of you so very much. If I forgot anyone it is not because you are not in my heart, because you are, it is because I somehow missed you!

Samantha DeLint
http://lcdcexamreview.wordpress.com
Presley-Love
http://PresleyLove.wordpress.com
lifeinzuri
http://lifeinzuri.wordpress.com
Dave
http://www.groovydocs.wordpress.com
cast-light.com
http://castlightdotcom.wordpress.com
Maaher Sayeed
http://despicablewonderfulyou.wordpress.com
Kozo
http://everydaygurus.com/
fjpeter1961
http://frankjpeter.com
thebettermanprojects
http://thebettermanprojects.wordpress.com
sasha
http://btwnshadownsoul.wordpress.com
truelovejunkie
http://truelovejunkie.com
lifeinzuri
http://lifeinzuri.wordpress.com
Leila Dayne
http://leiladayne.wordpress.com
itstartedwithaquote
http://www.itstartedwithaquote.wordpress.com
marga t.
http://lifeasimprov.wordpress.com
socalmark
http://smallsteps2health.wordpress.com/.com
Pat Cegan
http://patcegan.wordpress.com
Angie
http://angiesgrapevine.wordpress.com
istopforsuffering
http://istopforsuffering.wordpress.com
rarasaur
http://rarasaur.wordpress.com
Ray Barbier
http://rbarbier1967.wordpress.com/
Simply Me
http://simplymejustbe.wordpress.com
madelinelaughs
http://www.spreadinformation.wordpress.com
sarahmcc
http://biointegration@yahoo.com
MG
http://SmartasseryInc.wordpress.com
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Inspiration

Christmas Should Be the Cure

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Why Christmas should cure people.

christmas wonder
Christmas should be a time of wonder, and if it isn’t, look within yourself.

It is easy to see the problems with the world today, life’s issues seem to force themselves into our consciousness.  There are those without enough to eat, no family, no home and no hope of anything any better.  This is impossible to fix completely but Christmas gives us our best opportunity to make changes in the quality of life for all people.  How come we so often miss the mark?  Why is it that so many people are not really happy on Christmas?

Commercialism Robs Gratitude

greedmas
Too often it seems Christmas lists look like this. Greed is not good.

The increase in commercialism around this time has made Christmas the season of expectations not of gift giving and gratitude.  People, especially young people, spend the holiday wrapped up in what is being wrapped up for them.  Rather than being concerned with the feeling of Christmas which has always been love, they are worried about what is in this for them.

I feel old when I say I remember a different time, but I do.  There were small gifts that were really appreciated by those receiving them.  I remember not only receiving gifts that were thoughtful, and just what I wanted, and I remember searching for just that perfect gift that cost under five dollars for my parents or siblings.  It was a simpler time, even though Christmas was commercialized then, it was nowhere near the media advertising blitz it is today.

It is no wonder people are so messed up around Christmas, if your intake of expensive electronic gizmos and gadgets doesn’t equal the price of a small import car, the holiday is a failure.  Where did we go wrong?

The Magic of Christmas

gratitude of Christmas
Try some of these thoughts and emotions this year.

It doesn’t have to be that way, and it is simple to reclaim.  If you are Christian then remember the actual meaning of the holiday.  The message is one of love, power, and wonder.  If you aren’t Christian but like the holiday, simply remember that the act of giving is a good thing, and has the power to transcend culture, distance, and differences of all kinds.  Giving is a two-part transaction, which should never be forgotten.  On the one hand, there is the giving of a gift.  It simply has to be given with an open heart, to make someone else happy.  That is it.

The second part of the transaction is receiving, with gratitude, and appreciation, that someone else in the world cares enough about you to take the time to find you a gift. There was a time in life, that I took gifts for granted myself, but age and time have made receiving gifts of any kind a wonder.  I appreciate the thought, even more than the gift itself, because that is the real treasure anyway.

This is the magic that comes with this season each year and seems to be lost in the commercialism and greed that pervades the holiday.  The act of giving is powerful, but the feeling of gratitude for the gifts and love of another can carry you to new heights.  Having a gratitude in your heart can allow you to find the strength to make it through tough times because it is not really how much crap you accumulate in this life, it is how much others care about you and your presence in their lives that matters in the end.

It Will All Be OK

So when you start to feel overwhelmed with the season and find that you are getting frustrated with the commercialism and greed that seems to be all around you, then you need to look inside yourself and find the spirit of giving and the gratitude for all that you have.  If that is your focus you will have a much more pleasant holiday season and life.

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Inspiration

Random Act of Kindness

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The Random Acts of Kindness Barnstar may be aw...
Random Act of Kindness

A Random Act of Kindness saves A Truly bad day

Some days are difficult to enjoy but a random act of kindness can change everything around for you.  It could be a forecast for the end of the world or the inconsiderate behavior of another that have you experiencing a bad day but it is definitely true that a random act of kindness can turn it all around.

It often happens when you need to be picked up the most that something or more directly someone takes it upon themselves to do something kind for you. It is our job to simply notice it and appreciate the effort!

Only a Cup of Coffee, Random act of Kindness

It was only a cup of coffee, but it could have been a large bar of gold because it was such a slap of niceness into an otherwise sour day.  I know I was feeling sorry for myself, and choosing to indulge myself in a river of self-pity. when out of nowhere someone randomly offered me a cup of coffee. A two dollar cup of kindness.

Today it seemed easy to get down, a cold, depressing rain has been falling all day that makes you want to just go back to bed and forget this day ever started.  But then one act of kindness allowed me to smile both outside and inside.  Suddenly the world didn’t  seem so bad and I less vengeful against it. Dare I say I started to feel happy.

A Random Act of Kindness can Change Everything

kindness inspires kindness
Remember this fact!

You never know what those random acts of kindness you perform will do for the world.  The small pebble of your kindness may ripple throughout the world for a long time indeed.  It may cause others to find their own hearts and give without looking for anything in return.

This just happened and I am able to focus a little more on the good things in my life.  Start to count my blessings, think about the positive things and know that the world isn’t a total cesspool of violence and uncaring people.

This simple touch of humanity really made my day. I am most often pretty positive and try to reciprocate in kind, but like everyone else, I have my days.  The act of purchasing my coffee on a cold and rainy afternoon restored my hope in all of humanity.

If you are in a position to do something kind for someone else today, then do it, even if it isn’t recognized it will make a difference to someone. Many small acts together can make a huge difference for somebody else.

My faith in humanity is restored and I am no longer mad at the world. A random act of kindness made sure of that.

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