Little Red Wagon

In 2004, ten year old Zach Bonner went door to door with his little red wagon to collect water for the victims of Hurricane Charlie. Now, this inspirational 5th grader is dedicated to community service and has raised thousands of dollars to purchase school supplies, food, and support services for homeless children in Florida and Louisiana. He most recently walked 280 miles from Tampa to Tallahassee in order to bring awareness to the 1st ever National Homeless Youth Awareness Month. Watch this inspiring video of Zach’s amazing journey and learn about how you can help!

Storytellers for Good: Each One Reach One

Storytellers for Good: Each One Reach One from Storytellers For Good on Vimeo.

Each One Reach One provides tutoring and mentoring programs for incarcerated youth. Our story profiles the journey of one young man who, with the help of tutors and this unique playwriting program, was able to get his GED and beat the odds.

Keep Your Eyes on the Prize – Just One Thing

What’s the most important thing?
The Practice
Keep your eyes on the prize.
Why?

Have you heard this saying?

The most important thing is to remember the most important thing.

What are the most important things to you? In your life as a whole? During a particular interaction with someone? Right this minute?

The most important things often get pushed to the sidelines. Urgent crowds out important. Modern life is full of distracting clamor, from text messages and emails to window displays in the mall. Other people tug at you with their priorities – which may not be your own. And it can feel scary to admit what really matters to you, tell others, and go after it for real: the fearful voices whisper in the back of the mind: What if you fail?

But if you don’t make a sanctuary for what is important, it will get overrun by the bermuda grass of B and C priorities.

How?

Know your purpose in life. Write it down in one word, phrase, or sentence. Really. The first time someone suggested I do this, I thought they were a little nuts. But then I opened up to a kind of knowing of what matters most to me, and wrote it down. It’s OK if it changes, or if you don’t get the words just right at first. You can revise it later. Put it in positive terms and in the present tense; for example, “I am loving” is better than “I will stop getting so angry with people.” Say it out loud and see how it feels. Find words you connect with.

Keep your purpose close to your heart; it may feel sacred. If you speak of it, do so with self-respect, not self-doubt. And then every day, as soon as you remember, recommit to your life’s purpose: rename it to yourself and give yourself over to it again.

Clarify your priorities. Identify the key aims of your life these days in a word or phrase, such as: Health. Friendship. Finances. Learning new things. Career. Marriage. Spirituality. Having fun. Parenting. Creative expression. Exploring life. Service. Maybe break up one aim into two or three; for example, “finances” could become “breaking even,” “saving for retirement,” and “becoming affluent, even wealthy.”

Then do a little exercise as an experiment: rank these aims in order of importance, with no ties allowed. If you could attain only one aim, which would it be? That’s your highest priority. Then take that one off the list, look at the aims that are left, and ask the question again: If I could attain only one of these remaining aims, which one would it be? Then repeat the process until you’re finished. Remember your purpose in life. As you go along, you may want to revise the wording of the aims, or divide one aim into two or three. When you’re done, write a clean list of aims in priority order; if it feels right, keep it where you can see it each day, maybe your eyes alone. Routinely reflect on your true priorities; feel their weight; let your top priorities draw you in their direction.

Put the big rocks in the bucket first. Look at the priorities you just created, and then ask yourself: Am I giving my time, attention, and energy in proportion to these priorities? And sit with the answer for awhile. Don’t feel you need to change your life right away. There are usually some conflicts between your priorities and your actions. Live with that tension; don’t push it away. Keep letting your true priorities speak to you. What do they say?

It’s normal to be committed to big chunks of time doing things that are necessary but not high priorities per se, such as commuting or doing housework. Consider how you could weave one or more top priorities into these relatively low priority periods. For example, listen to an inspiring talk while you’re on the bus, or pay mindful attention to the breath while doing dishes.

Also see what realistic changes you can gradually make in your time, in the people you see, in what you give your attention, in how you spend your money. Build your priorities into your daily schedule and monthly budget. For example, start your day with a time of reflection, meditation, uplifting reading, yoga, art, or exercise. Or when you pay the bills, write the first check to your own savings account, even if it’s only for a single dollar.

Stay focused on your priorities in important interactions. Lots of interactions kind of bounce around, and that’s OK. But sometimes there’s an important stake on the table, like identifying a key deliverable at work, or saying what you really feel to your partner, or pinning down a homework plan for your child. In these cases, it’s common for the conversation to go off on tangents, get hijacked emotionally, or fall into a kitchen sink full of related issues – but then the main point doesn’t get resolved. Instead, keep reminding yourself of the result you’d like out of the interaction. It doesn’t have to be the whole magilla: sometimes it’s best to focus on something concrete and manageable that’s attainable. Don’t take the “bait” of inflammatory or distracting statements by others; keep coming back to the main point; you can deal with those other issues later – if ever. Obviously, be open to discovering that there is something even more important to talk about than what you first thought. But always be clear what your priorities are, even if they change.

Take care of yourself. This is definitely an important thing – perhaps the most fundamental of all. As they say on an airplane, “Put your own oxygen mask on first.” Or as the Buddha put it a long time ago: “If one going down into a river, swollen and swiftly flowing, is carried away by the current – how can one help others across?”

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This post is from my free newsletter, Just One Thing, which offers a simple practice each week to bring you more happiness, love, and wisdom. Over time, just one thing can add up to big results! You can subscribe if you like; I’ll never share your email address, and you can unsubscribe any time.

* * *

Rick Hanson, Ph.D., is a neuropsychologist and founder of the Wellspring Institute for Neuroscience and Contemplative Wisdom. A summa cum laude graduate of UCLA, he teaches at universities and meditation centers in Europe, Australia, and North America. His work has been featured on the BBC and in Consumer Reports Health, U.S. News and World Report, and other major magazines.

Rick’s most recent book is Buddha’s Brain: The Practical Neuroscience of Happiness, Love, and Wisdom and is being published in ten additional languages. An authority on self-directed neuroplasticity, he edits the Wise Brain Bulletin and has a weekly e-newsletter, Just One Thing. His articles have appeared in Tricycle Magazine, Insight Journal, and Inquiring Mind.

He enjoys rock-climbing and taking a break from emails. He and his wife have two children. For more information, please see his full profile at www.RickHanson.net. You can find him on the social web at http://www.facebook.com/BuddhasBrain and http://www.YouTube.com/BuddhasBrain

Technorati Tags: achieving goals, changing your life, finding your path, maintaining goals, making life changes, setting goals, staying focused

Seeds of Light: Bridging Two Worlds

Seeds of Light started a music program for a group of children in the third-world community of Acornhoek, Mpumalanga Province, South Africa, where there is 70% unemployment and one in three people is HIV+. The music program has brought enormous hope and a surprising and inspiring connection with the outside world. Through the video camera of Seeds of Light co-director, Brad Laughlin, the children of Acornhoek and the Agape Children’s Conservatory of Los Angeles, California have befriended each other.

Dealing With Diabetes-Featuring Claudia Arseneault-Rainusso

As a person who has family members with diabetes, I was shocked at the recent statistics of how many people are diagnosed every year with the disease. Blood sugar monitoring, living an active, balanced life and making healthy choices are common decisions diabetics make every day. However, what was more shocking was how little the average person knows about the disease. There have been many cases of people mistaking a Type 1 diabetic reaction for a public disturbance or a passer by giving a diabetic more insulin during a diabetic reaction. These mistakes can cost people their lives. Since many people have either Type 1 or Type 2 diabetes, it is essential that the public is made aware of the day to day life of a diabetic. But how does one explain the everyday routine of a diabetic person? Can they live and lead a regular, fulfilled life? Absolutely!

Enter Claudia  Arseneault-Rainusso. At only eleven years old, this Ontario, Canada resident wrote her class speech about living with diabetes. She explained clearly about the disease and the common misconceptions people have. As a Type 1 diabetic herself, she also explains her transition to using the pump, an apparatus that slowly feeds your body insulin.  I want to share her speech internationally for those who want to learn more about diabetes and to be inspired by a new generation of writers :

 

My name is Claudia. I’m 11 years old, and I have Type 1 Diabetes.

Diabetes is a disease – don’t worry it’s not contagious! – that affects an organ in my body called the pancreas. Everyone has one, but mine just doesn’t work right – go figure!

When I was 2 years old, Diabetes decided to move right on into my body. My mom says that before I was diagnosed, I was sleeping a lot, thirsty all the time and going to the bathroom 20 times a day! She brought me to the emergency room because she thought I had a bladder infection, but the doctors knew right away what was going on; I had Type 1 Diabetes. I had to stay in the hospital for one week while the doctors and nurses tried to control my blood sugar levels, and they also had to teach my parents how to take care of me and my Diabetes – they had a lot to learn!

This is how my body works differently from yours: When we eat any kind of food, it turns into glucose (sugar) and our bodies use insulin to turn that glucose into energy. That pancreas I told you about earlier, its job is to make special cells which make the insulin. My pancreas doesn’t make those cells, so I have to get insulin another way.  In my case, it’s by a snazzy insulin pump which runs on batteries – yes, yes, I run on batteries. Ha! Ha!  Every three days, I give myself a needle which has a tube around it that stays under my skin when the needle is pulled out. The tube is connected to a long cord which attaches to my insulin pump that is loaded up with insulin. The pump gives me a tiny bit of insulin all day long, and anytime I eat, I input the carbohydrate amount of that food and – Voila! – it calculates how much insulin I need to break down that food to be used as energy for my body! I like to think of my pump as my artificial pancreas that I control! A needle every 3 days may sound like no fun, but its way better than it used to be. When I was first diagnosed, I was getting four to six needles every day! When I was five years old, the doctors and my parents agreed that I was grown-up enough to start pump therapy.

Sometimes, I get too much insulin which causes my blood sugars to go low. I get tired, dizzy and shaky. I can drink juice or eat some candy to bring my blood sugar back to a normal level.  My little sister and some of my classmates think it’s cool that I have Diabetes. They see me get special treatment, like drinking juice or eating candy in class, when my blood sugars are low. Trust me, having Diabetes stinks!  Sometimes it can be really hard to control my blood sugars, especially when I get sick with a cold or flu. When I get sick, my blood sugar can get very high. When this happens, I get really hyper, really thirsty, and it can be hard for me to focus. If my blood sugar doesn’t come down soon, I can end up in the hospital.  I started in a new in school last year, and a few weeks after school started, I got strep throat and my blood sugars went crazy. It was pretty serious and I was in the hospital for one week. It’s embarrassing enough to be the new kid at school, but the new sick kid at school is much worse.  That was not the first time this had happened, and it wouldn’t be the last. This summer, I went to California with my little sister and grandmother. I caught a simple little virus at Disneyland, and I ended up in the intensive care at a Children’s Hospital because my blood sugars went crazy again! When I was younger, sometimes kids would say mean things to me like, “Are you going to die because you have “DIE”abetes.”,  or “I don’t want to play with you because I don’t want to catch Diabetes.”  It really hurt my feelings then, but now I know that those people didn’t know much about Diabetes. My parents taught me how to teach other people about Diabetes, and that’s it’s nothing to be scared of.

There are a lot of people who I meet that think that because I am Diabetic that I can’t have any sugar; this is NOT true. There are two types of Diabetes: type 1 and type 2. I have type 1 Diabetes. Type 2 Diabetes is the one where you have to be careful about what you eat. A lot of type 2 Diabetics can reverse or manage their Diabetes by eating healthy, taking medication and exercising. A lot of the time, but not always, type 2 Diabetes is caused by not taking care of yourself. Type 1 Diabetes is totally different.   There is nothing I could have done to prevent this disease from happening to me, and it’s not going to get any better or worse. I can eat what I like and give myself the amount of insulin I need for that particular food choice.

Sometimes it really bothers me that I have Diabetes, and I wonder why God would allow this to happen to me. When I get discouraged, I remind myself of God’s promises and determine to not let my Diabetes get me down. God promises He is with us always and will give us the strength to handle whatever comes our way.  My parents painted a scripture verse on my bedroom wall that says “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.” I try to look at my Diabetes as something that I have been trusted with, and it’s my job to have a good attitude despite having not so great circumstances.  One day, I hope there will be a cure for Diabetes, but until then, I will rely on God for the strength I need each day and pray that one day soon a cure will come.

Love,  Claudia

Claudia’s clear and concise speech outlines that there are ups and downs to diabetes, but with a great attitude and an excellent understanding, you can live a fulfilled life. Her faith is her guiding light. It is important for each of us to find our own. Understanding diabetes  does not have to be complicated, that is why it is best to hear about it through the example of a young person.

*Special thanks to Claudia for sharing her speech*

*Photo credit: Alicia Arseneault

Technorati Tags: Claudia Arseneault-Rainusso, diabetes, diabetic pump, Grace Ste.Croix, vividlife

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