Look For The Good!

Thank you, and be Safe!

Thank you for those who work for healthy communities.

2020 has been a challenging year for everyone, and more challenges lie ahead as we confront more sickness and deaths from Covid-19. As a community we need to work everyday to take care of those around us. We are all in this together, and as individuals, families and communities it is necessary and important to follow the rules so everyone is safe. Our freedoms are not being infringed upon as we work together as a community for one big effort. Cooperation make us one. I am surprised on my walks to see groups or children wearing masks as they run around and play outdoor games together. Do they want to wear masks as they play outside? I am sure they are thankful to have each other, and be outside with their friends.

thank you — Live each day with gratitude and look for the good.

I wake up each day with gratitude for a new day, my family, friends, the sunshine, and the beauty of the Earth. I am thankful for the healthcare workers, mail carriers, and people who work with positive energy for peace and justice. Look for the good, it is there! I know I am lucky, and I hope you are lucky too!

I don’t have to chase extraordinary moments to find happiness–It’s right in front of me if I’m paying attention and practicing gratitude.” Brene Brown

Yes, we are tired of stay safe rules , but I thought this was a very comprehensive list, and I hope you might get some new ideas. I copied it from an article in Ecowatch.com Please be safe and look for the good.

Always mask up when indoors and around people who don’t live in your household.
Always mask up when outdoors and unable to maintain physical distancing.
Use either disposable masks or a multi-layer tightly woven cotton mask. Single-layer kerchiefs are insufficient.
When you mask up, make sure it fits your face and covers both nose and mouth. Wash or sanitize your hands after touching or removing the mask.
Remember that masks are not a substitute for physical distancing.
Maintain at least six feet of distance between you and others outside of your household.
Wash your hands frequently with soap and water for 20 seconds, or use a hand sanitizer with at least 60% alcohol.
Avoid motions that transfer organisms from your hands to your face. Your mouth, nose and eyes have mucous membranes that are potentially receptive to these organisms.
Clean frequently touched surfaces. Wipe-ups are wasteful, use bleach, water with rags instead.
Do as much as possible outside and keep interactions with others short.
Fortify ventilation systems for more frequent air exchanges. Air should be coming from the outside!
Curtail in-person holiday celebrations with those not in your household

Enjoy, and Happy Thanksgiving!

Kindness Matters

World Kindness Day 2020

A smile is an international way to show kindness. Smile today!

World Kindness Day is a global day that promotes the importance of being kind to each other, to yourself, and to the world. This day, celebrated on November 13 of each year, has the purpose is to help everyone understand that compassion for others is what binds us all together. This understanding has the power to bridge the gap between nations.

Non-violent November

“Victory of light over darkness, good over evil, and knowledge over ignorance” Diwali celebration

These are challenging times as Covid-19 continues to harm our communities and families. To make things worse we are living in a time of misinformation and darkness. Many refuse to accept the truth. As the American election takes place it is my wish we move out of the darkness of lies and fear into a new beginning of hope, science, understanding and truth.

It is a hard when we have an American president that doesn’t see reality and truth. Somehow, and it will be hard, we must accept the results of the election with non-violence and hope for a better world. Every vote must be counted, our democracy depends on it, and then we must accept the results. Important November days to celebrate and look forward to with hope:

November 1, World Vegan Day

November 3, American Election Day

November 10, World Science Day for Peace and Development

November 11, Veterans Day

November 13, World Kindness Day

November 14 Diwali “Victory of light over darkness, good over evil, and knowledge over ignorance”.

November 15, America Recycles Day, make it a day to reuse and reduce

November 26, Day of gratitude, Thanksgiving Day

Below the Actions for Happiness people have a calendar for New November with many good suggestions to try something new:

Vote For Our Future

If we do not take care of our planet, none of the other issues will matter. Climate matters are social justice, immigration, economic, health, clean water/air and basic survival issues. Local and state issues are just as important as the White House. Please vote and tread lightly.

Superior Views Fall 2020

Peace and Hope

Vibrant fall colors that take your breath away, unusual cloud formations and migrating birds bring joy on this big lake. Autumn beauty brings a break from this pandemic and the raw politics of this election season.
Our nesting birds have left for warmer climes, but migrating yellow-rumped warblers dive at our house chasing flies. Juvenile white- throated sparrows practice imperfect singing, and groups of juncos are abundant. The chickadees are emptying their feeder and chipmunks are underfoot as they busily prepare for a long winter.
A month after the monarchs had left for Mexico, I was surprised to find a caterpillar munching on an old yellow milkweed. I moved the lone caterpillar to a healthy milkweed, but there probably isn’t time enough time for it to form a chrysalis and a mature monarch butterfly. I can only hope it was able to complete it’s cycle, and catch a strong north wind to Mexico.
This year not all politics is forgotten. Campaign signs popped up on our road which I haven’t seen before, but the vast majority were hopeful signs of kindness for this northern Wisconsin community.

Optimistic Outside October

“How wonderful it is that nobody need wait a single moment before starting to improve the world.” Anne Frank

None of us knows the future, and at this moment in time it is hard not to be fearful about it. We can’t shake this awful pandemic, and we are in the middle of an important election. The next month is full of uncertainty. We have leaders scaring us about the future and telling us the” Mob” and violence are going to take over. Some elected officials share lies and conspiracy theories. They say they won’t follow the rules and leave office if they don’t win? With all this what is there to be afraid of?

I got several pieces of mail this week telling me the “Mob” is taking over if I don’t vote for certain candidates? Who is this mob? Does frightening people get you to vote for them? I hope not. I wonder if I am part of the “Mob” because I want equal rights, justice, clean air and water for everyone? Confusion and fear are the goals of these people. Our mental and physical health are both at stake with this silly rhetoric. Don’t listen to it!

We must do better than this. Choose instead to be hopeful and optimistic. Don’t feed this fear, instead feed optimism. Start each day with a positive action. See some ideas below. Also, everyday get outside and enjoy the beauty of October.

When you are optimistic you and look at your days with hope instead of fear. Optimism wins and helps you see beyond fear for a better future and a better world. The Actions for Happiness group has thirty-one suggestions and ideas to help us be optimistic. See their ideas below:

https://www.actionforhappiness.org/media/922208/october_2020.jpg

Wishing you an optimistic and outside October!

International Day of Peace

The 2020 Peace Day Theme: Shaping Peace Together Celebrate the International Day of Peace by spreading compassion, kindness and hope in the face of the COVID-19 pandemic. Stand together with the UN against attempts to use the virus to promote discrimination or hatred.

Join me to spread PEACE together. Take 3 breaths everyday to inhale peace to yourself, and exhale peace to all. Together we can Love the world to Peace

Last Night I Had the Strangest Dream, a song by Simon and Garfunkel

Last night I had the strangest dream I’ve ever known before… I
dreamed that all the world agreed to put an end to war… I dreamed
I saw a mighty room… the room was filled with men… and the papers
they were signing said they’d never fight again. And when the papers
were all signed, and a million copies made, they all shook hands and
bowed their heads and greatful prayers were prayed… and the people
in the streets below were dancing round and round… while swords and
guns and uniforms lay scattered on the ground… Last night I had the
strangest dream I’ve ever known before… I dreamed that all the world
agreed to put an end to war…

Take 3 breaths everyday to inhale peace to yourself, and exhale peace to all. Together we can Love the world to Peace

September Searching

Searching for Truth

This Actions for Happiness post is about self-care and telling the truth! Living in a pandemic we need self-care and we need truth.

Part of self-help September is telling the truth, but what do you do when you have elected officials that lie, lie and lie some more, and citizens that believe their lies? People that lie are unhappy, they can’t accept reality. These are strange times with a pandemic, and the need for correct information is enormous. When elected officials have a misunderstanding of the truth, and create alternative facts, and others don’t correct and challenge them we are in big trouble. If we don’t have a set of facts to agree on, people searching for truth make things up and spread theories about what they believe might be true. This is like ancient people trying to make sense of what they don’t understand. We need to have a base of facts to work from and we have lost that. Yes, I misled the U.S.

Democracies can not survive without understanding what is really happening. That is why we have universities, scientists, news media and newspapers to search out the truth. In order to function as citizens in our society and in our democracy, we need to have a common basis of facts.

This is not ancient times, we have science, we have a hard working journalists and educators that are masters at getting the facts correct. At this time in history we all need a active commitment to always tell the truth. Start with telling the truth yourself, and demand truth-telling from all your acquaintances. Telling the truth is easy, demand it from everyone!

How do you start to search for truth?

Get the facts and be open minded. We often think we are correct when we aren’t.
Do additional research, read newspapers, and ask questions.
Make sure your sources are credible.
Ask yourself, does this make sense?
Never spread things unless you know the source and check at least 2 more sources. Facebook, friends, family, and Fox talk shows, are not reliable sources.

From September of 1939:

All I have is a voice

To undo the folded lie,

The romantic lie in the brain

Of the sensual man-in-the-street

And the lie of Authority

Whose buildings grope the sky:

There is no such thing as the State

And no one exists alone;

Hunger allows no choice

To the citizen or the police;

We must love one another or die. By W. H. Auden

Ten more self-care ideas to get you through the pandemic from the Washington Post. Read here.

Here is the Actions For Happiness calendar for September. An important part of self-care involves telling the truth and never spreading falsehoods.

Altruistic August!

Kindness and smiling create a ripple, spread them now!

Smile: A Poem by Spike Milligan
Smiling is infectious,
you catch it like the flu, When someone smiled at me today, I started smiling too.
I passed around the corner and someone saw my grin. When he smiled I realized I’d passed it on to him.
I thought about that smile, then I realized its worth.
A single smile, just like mine could travel round the earth.
So, if you feel a smile begin, don’t leave it undetected. Let’s start an epidemic quick, and get the world infected!

Become mindful how your actions affect others? Smile, turn down the music, sweep instead of leaf blow, turn off your car instead of idle, pick up litter, control your dog, follow the driving rules, and wearing an a mask is an act of kindness. Thirty-one actions below for acts of kindness:

During August the idea is to do one or more acts of kindness daily. Let’s spread a wave of kindness all around the world.

Zero Waste Wednesday

end food waste — Help the environment by reducing food waste

Food waste is a waste of water, a waste of energy and transportation, and a waste of time and labor. Making an effort to reduce food waste is an important thing we can all do for the economy and the Earth. In America 40 percent of the food produced is wasted!

We waste too much food, and there is a food crisis with this pandemic. Many are unemployed, and lines are long at food shelves, which are experiencing a massive demand. A big disconnect, many are starving, and at the same time we waste lots of food! Today, no recipe required, instead of throwing food away use your creativity to create a meal with left overs and produce you have in your house. Can you make an omelet, soup, wrap, or stir fry with what you have? Have fun, be creative!

“Even before COVID-19, Americans, on average, were tossing away more than a pound of uneaten food per person each day, amounting to some 400 pounds of food thrown out annually. That’s far more than any other wealthy country — about 50% more food waste per capita than France and nearly double that of the U.K. According to U.S. government estimates, the cost of U.S. food waste comes out to $161 billion annually. The environmental costs are abysmal.” Read the article by Amanda Little here.

These are important facts we should be aware of, from the IPCC, Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change: Food production causes 30 % of greenhouse emissions, 80% of global deforestation, and uses 70% of the world’s fresh water!

Too much food is waste! — How can you use those leftovers?

Great suggestions for reducing your food waste.

Category: sustainable