Tipping my hat to oldhippiedude, whose seat I am helping keep warm until he is ready take it back. {{{{{{ ohd & msdude }}}}}}
"You cannot get through a single day without having an impact on the world around you. What you do makes a difference, and you have to decide what kind of difference you want to make." -- Jane Goodall
I landed in a pit when *it* happened in November, 2016. You know what I mean.
The Daily Kos helped me climb out.
I was delighted to hear Kossacks call MF1 a tangerine turd. I thought “At last!!! Someone is telling it like it *is*, rather than brainlessly (sycophantishly!) labeling a turd with what ought to be the highest title our nation can bestow.”
Then I found the Good News. I can’t describe the lift I felt, finding a community which values Truth *and* Goodness. A community dedicated to lifting people up, and to spreading positive truths. Uniting and galvanizing. Making the world a better place, word by word. Diary by diary, comment by comment. Postcard by postcard, donation by donation, vote by vote! Hallelujah.
[pausing to savor gratitude for the Good News community as I inhale, reaching out to each one of you over the intewebs, and . . . slowly . . . exhale . . . ]
It is heartening to hear people in the Good News talking about all the active steps they are taking to make things better! After I started doing some of those things, I found that I felt better. Doing good in the world tends to boost our personal well-being. It’s good for us, and it’s good for life as we know it.
“I’m convinced of this. Good done anywhere is good done everywhere… As long as you’re breathing, it’s never too late to do some good.” -- Maya Angelou
There are so many little things we can do (that may have not-so-little effects):
The Good News provides delicious and nutritious content that informs, enlightens, entertains, soothes, uplifts, unites, galvanizes, and entices us to laugh. We can participate in the Good News community -- rec, tip, comment, write a diary.
We can vote.
We can smile when we make eye contact with random strangers. I have been practicing this for a while. I give ‘em a smile that looks like I know the best joke in the world, and I almost always get one back. 😊
"If you see someone without a smile, give them yours." -- Dolly Parton
We can hold the door open for the person coming after us (literally and metaphorically…).
We can watch for people at the grocery who may not be able to reach things on the top (or bottom) shelf, and ask if they’d like assistance.
We can watch for people who will have trouble with doors (people with strollers, maybe, or delivery people with an armload of stuff), and open the door for them.
We can watch for people who drop things (or leave things behind), and let them know.
“Small actions do matter and taking responsibility for your role in society is a deeply important step.” -- Jon Alexander (of the think tank and consultancy New Citizenship Project)
We can shop local.
We can eat local.
The self-care diary went up last month, and excellent suggestions for good things to do were offered in the comments (I’m saving the self-care hints received then for an update to the self-care diary) :
chloris creator March 21 · 07:15:02 AM
My recommendation is to do something nice for a friend, or to play with a very small child (unless you’re the parent of a very small child, in which case you may need a break).
Therese58 March 21 · 07:21:09 AM
Floor time with my 9 month old grandson is the highlight of my day. He practices standing and I practice laughing.
2thanks March 21 · 07:34:32 AM
I love playing with little children too! Happiness.
karij March 21 · 08:37:42 AM
I love playing with the grandkids to relax!
VA Gal March 21 · 07:38:05 AM
You can spend time with a child and to enjoy beautiful books — I’m amazed at the illustrations in children’s books. Many are absolutely gorgeous or are so full of fascinating details to find and enjoy.
sdosch March 21 · 08:59:37 AM
I had a 10 minute hug from my youngest granddaughter this morning when I arrived to babysit for the day. 😊❤️😊 Doing something nice for someone else always cheers me up. (Especially when I want to hurry spring along on these wintery days.) Call a friend. Hug your loved ones. 💗
avoicefromthemiddle March 21 · 11:37:16 AM
Volunteering to read to kids at the library is great if you have the time.
VA Gal March 21 · 08:17:35 PM
Or maybe read to kids at schools, social organizations or homeless shelters?
alosi to sdosch March 21 · 06:24:25 PM
Hang out with your nephew💕
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Hanging out with little (and not so little) kids is clearly a crowd favorite. 😊
We can fly our flag, and enjoy those beloved stars and stripes against a bright blue sky.
We can plant a tree on our own property, or we can drop a few bucks on the Rainforest Alliance or the Eden Project and let them plant trees for us. Some cities welcome donations to be used for planting trees in parks.
“Some days I'm more pleased with my efforts than others. But I just keep going...” -- Mary Ann Moss, artist and teacher
We can say “thank you!” with feeling.
I upped my “thank you!” practice some time ago.
Saying “thank you!” early and often is step one. Saying it with feeling and eye-contact and a smile is step two. To really boost the energy, mention something you are thanking them for. “Thank you for checking me out of the grocery so quickly! I couldn’t keep up with you as I bagged my items!”
I work on this practice especially for people in thankless jobs. Art-museum guards. TSA agents. I say something like “thank you for protecting our art” or “thank you for working to keep us safe.”
Thanking people in person makes it possible for us to know we’ve made an impact (which is good for us as well as for the recipient of our thanks). More than once I have been told “No one ever tells us ‘thank you’!” — a clear indication of how badly this upgrade to our behavior is needed. One of my favorite “Thank you!” encounters was with a cop who was working the Women’s March in 2017. He responded “Oh, no, ma’am. Thank YOU.” 😊
Thanking someone in writing has its good aspects, too. We can reach someone we don’t see in person. If we write on paper, recipients have something to stick on the bulletin board (or tape to the fridge) and enjoy more than once, if they like.
We can write to thank our representative (or senator) who has been steadfast against the dark side. We can write to the janitors who keep our library clean, or to the people who do laundry at the hospital. (And there are so many cool stamps these days. I like to pick and choose at USPS.com -- right now they have Marvin Gaye, John Lennon, Sally Ride, magic, birds, flowers….)
Our planet should NOT be a trash pit. -- moi
We can pick up trash.
A few years ago I read “The ocean is downhill from everywhere.”
Wow.
Yes. Yes, it is. I started picking up trash when I walk. Especially Styrofoam, because I think if anything is going to make it from here to the sea, it’s Styrofoam.
I carry three plastic grocery bags. One is for trash, one is for recyclables, and one is for things I might want to photograph, like a feather, or a plastic cat ring, or a German train ticket found on a sidewalk in Michigan.
(When picking up trash, I pick up enough usable plastic grocery bags that I don’t have to accumulate them in stores to have a plentiful supply to contain my trash-pick-up practice. I empty the bags when I get home, and only throw them out when they are full of wet garbage, or when they rip and are no longer useful.)
I have been picking up trash long enough to be convinced that if everyone picked up two pieces of trash every time we are out and about, there would be very little trash on the ground. One piece for us, and one piece for someone else who really cannot pick up trash. (I pick up a lot more than two pieces, but if everyone picked up two, there wouldn’t be much left for me.)
The plastic we pick up and dispose of properly will probably not end up in the gut of a sea creature in our lifetimes.
“In times of great stress or adversity, it’s always best to keep busy, to plow your anger and your energy into something positive.” -- Lee Iacocca
We can follow Yosef 52 for tons of valuable suggestions on saving our beloved country.
We can write to get out the vote:
We can write quick missives to get out the vote in places far from home. PostcardsToVoters.org and Vote Forward each have a process all set up to make it easy for us to contact intermittent voters with a message PtV or VF have decided is persuasive.
It’s great to have something we can do at home, in a spare 20 minutes here and 15 minutes there…. For PtV I use pre-stamped postcards from the post office, at 39 cents each (including postage).
1. EVERY STROKE WE TAKE IS ONE LESS WE HAVE TO MAKE
Keep going! Even against the most relentless wind or retrograde tide, somehow a canoe moves forward. This mystery can only be explained by the fact that each pull forward is a real movement and not a delusion.
We can subscribe to the Americans of Conscience checklist. Call your senators and representative (short and pithy script included in the newsletter). Read links to good news.
We can share our knowledge -- teach someone to do something.
We can help the Wikipedia Women in Red project add and/or improve women’s biographies. “ ‘Content gender gap’ is a form of systemic bias, and WiR addresses it in a positive way through shared values.”
Good and Kind has a long list of good things to do: Over 100 acts of kindness, including buying your milk from a local dairy, planting or growing flowers that bees love, and supporting live music.
We can take a stand. Wear a pin. March. Put up a yard sign. Put a magnet or two on the car.
We can emulate freewayblogger.
We can sidewalk blog with sidewalk chalk.
Don’t waste energy heartburning about what you cannot do. Pick something you *can* do, and DO IT! -- moi
At the end of the day, I need to be able to look myself in the mirror and say “I tried. I tried, and I tried, and I tried, and I tried.”
🌊💙🌊💙🌊🌊💙🌊💙🌊🌊💙🌊💙🌊
I hope you will contribute your own ideas about things we can do to make the world better in the comments, and, of course, I hope you will bring good news of all kinds. Thank you!
“Hope is a form of planning.” -- Gloria Steinem
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(I am not an early riser. I may not be here until 8:00 or even 9:00 am, EST. You know what to do. 😊)