Operation Beautiful

This is one of my FAVORITE projects on the Internet. Caitlin's crusade is to end toxic "Fat Talk". Operation Beautiful is a movement of posting anonymous messages in public -- messages of positive and upbeat messages of encouragement such as a simple "you are beautiful" to the more specific messages on a scale that says "This number doesn't matter. You are gorgeous right now..." or on a dressing room mirror, "Beauty has nothing to do with the size of your clothes."

This is a totally free way to spread change! All you need is a pen and a piece of paper and a public place to put a note. Are you ready to inspire total strangers? Get out there and get to writing, get to inspiring!

Oh and by the way, you're beautiful today. Everyday, really. I'm serious.

Good Deed Returned... 20 Years Later!

In order to counteract my previously hideous mention of good-deed-hater Ryan Sullivan, I feel the need neutralize all that bad juju by telling you about THIS awesome story.

Twenty years ago, a kind-hearted police officer did a good deed for a citizen. This month he was repaid for his kindness. See the full story and video at this NBC news station.

Somebody somewhere needs to declare today Alfred Edmond Day!

Youth Kindness

I ran across a blog post I wanted to share with all of you. Kathy over at This Crazy Adventure Called Life wrote a post about two incidents wherein children playing sports showed remarkable kindness.

Both stories are heartwarming, but I'll let Kathy tell the story at her post: One for the Good Guys. Go check it out if you have a minute.

By the way, this morning my son's kindergarten class had "Moms and Muffins" day. The kids made cards for all the moms and we each got a long stem rose and everyone got to gorge on muffins. Yum. Next week they are having "Dads and Donuts". Do the schools in your area have something like this that you can participate in? Consider donating some flowers or a container of glitter, a pack of paper or maybe a couple of boxes of muffin mix. Or offer to make batches of muffins for the day. Schools ALWAYS need money and help, so any little thing you can do is one less dollar they have to take out of their budget. Teachers will love you for it.

And by the way, even if you don't have kids in school there are still things you can do to help. Call the principal of the school and ask what you can do to help support your local school system.

Smile Cards

Have you seen the Smile Cards? These are very cool anonymous good deed cards that you can leave behind when you do something nice for someone. The idea is for that person to then do something nice in order to pass the card on to someone else.

It's the same basic idea as paying it forward, but it has the added motivation of "gotta do something nice to get rid of this card" thing. Not that we do kindness to get rid of our card, OF COURSE NOT, but you know what I mean. It's a little tickler to keep kindness in the front of our minds.

In the hubbub of our crazy lives it's easy to be distracted by being busy, by negativity, by the everydayness of the everyday. I love Smile Cards. Get yours today. They have free downloads at the web site. Try them out and go do some guerrilla kindness!