positive thinking

By now I think almost everyone has heard of The Complaint Free World (if you haven’t, check out the website and you can request a free bracelet.) I absolutely love the concept and loved how a small group of people were able to make such a huge impact across the United States.

Last August we started our school year by passing out and donning the purple Complaint Free bracelets, and soon realized that not complaining was a little harder than we thought. It is so easy to head down the complaint path without even realizing it. At some level, complaining feels like a release of pent up frustration, but what if we allowed positive emotions to do the same?

I just read a great article this morning suggesting just that in the San Francisco Chronicle Magazine. Kathy Seligman’s article, “Cultivating Happiness” asserts that positive psychology, some genetics and gratitude intervention can teach our kids to be happy. I love the concept of “cultivating happiness” with our children as it moves us away from complaints to focusing on the positive.

As today is New Year’s Day, my resolution will surely focus on being a mom who cultivates happiness in her home, with her husband and with her children. I spent the morning digging out our purple bracelets, and last night at midnight we put them back on as a reminder to look at life with our glasses half full.

Happy New Year!

Earlier this week I wrote about Brad Pitt being one of the Top Five Green Celebrities of 2007, and he’s already making a strong case for himself for the next year. The Make it Right project, which Pitt founded and for which he is now fund raising, was developed after he filmed a movie in New Orleans and saw firsthand the devastation brought upon the city by Hurricane Katrina. After seeing how many people were still without homes, he resolved to make a difference.

A year ago, he brought together a group of experts to determine the best way to go about building eco-friendly, affordable housing on a large scale. It was decided that they would construct 150 homes using an affordable, sustainable building system that could be used over and over again. Pitt opted to center his project in the Lower 9th Ward, one of the most devastated areas in New Orleans.

Pitt spoke to Ann Curry on the Today Show last week about Make It Right, saying that actors like David Spade and Will Ferrell have contributed to his cause (Ferrell sponsoring an entire home), and that 12,000 people have made donations of some sort. On Thursday, an anonymous donation of $1 million was made.

Of the 150 homes Pitt plans to build, 52 have been adopted, giving homes to 52 families. And while that’s fantastic news, there’s only another month left of fundraising, and Make It Right has a long way to go. To learn more about the project, make a donation, or just to watch a video of Brad Pitt talking directly to you (totally worth it, I swear!), check out Make It Right Nola and see how you can help.

Photo environmental-organizations.suite101.com

Have you ever had someone do something nice for you that was totally unexpected? I read on my Starbucks cup of such an act that happened at a drive-thru Starbucks. A driver chose to pick-up the tab for the car behind him. What happened next was a chain reaction in that for the following seven (7) cars, each driver chose to pay for the next person. I LOVED that story.

I do think that kindness can be contagious. Do you have a story where someone showed you unexpected kindness or a story where you had an opportunity to be the instigator of such an event?

I encourage you to be “an instigator” and report back on just how creative you are . . . . . karma my friend!

“Carpe diem, Seize the day . . . “ Horace

On a whim, I entered and won Miss Sonoma County when I was a 17 year-old senior in high school. Just like most girls that age, I was insecure with my looks and almost a little embarrassed that I actually won. As I prepared for Miss California (which I didn’t win), I was scheduled to be photographed by a fairly well-known photographer. As I went through make-up and as the photographer set-up to take my picture, I was nervous. I’m not sure what I said, but I must have alluded to the fact that I wasn’t “that pretty.” I’m sure I was looking for reassurance.

Instead of telling me what I wanted to hear, “oh you are so pretty,” he told me what I needed to hear, and it has stayed with me, and is “the best” beauty advice I have ever received. Here is what he said:

“There is always going to be somebody who is prettier than you and there is always going to be someone who is not as pretty as you. Furthermore, beauty is subjective and what is pretty to one is not to another. Instead of focusing on whether or not you are attractive by social standards, focus on the inside.”

Yes, it may sound cliché, but as an impressionable teenager I took it to heart. After all, he was a “famous photographer.” He went on to say, “if you define yourself by how you look you will never be secure. Rather, define who you are by what you believe in and what you stand for.”

“How many cares one loses when one decides not to be something but to be someone.” Coco Chanel